From The Future
by SugarRos
Summary: Kaede has a terrible vision of the near future, and Kagome gets a visit from someone she could have never imagined existed. Now Inuyasha and Kagome must go into hiding to fight Naraku's tyrrany in hopes that the future won't be overrun by him.
1. Chapter 01

From the Future

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Authors Note: Welcome to FtF. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But right now they're mine to manipulate. I'm going to have so much fun.

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Chapter 1

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"Kagome! Do you have to be so God Damn _stupid_ all the time?!"

They stormed through the village, ignoring onlookers, dodging around wagons and children. Inuyasha was only meters behind Kagome, glaring at the back of her head like he wished it dead. He huffed and complained and argued. Kagome was having nothing to do with it, her nose up in the air, ignoring him as much as she could stand to.

"Don't talk to me right now, Inuyasha, you're making me upset!"

"Listen to me!" Inuyasha shouted as he leapt gracefully in front of Kagome's path, cutting her off short. "You almost got yourself _killed_ back there!"

She stopped, almost running into his chest, and shot daggers up at him through heated eyes. "Yeah, and saved your _butt_ in the process!" She seethed, fury etched in her pretty face. "But do I get a thanks for that? No. Just another stupid lecture on how pathetic and weak and dumb I am!" She shoved past Inuyasha, making her way swiftly through the village towards the path that led to the well.

"Well, I'm sick of it!" Kagome said, holding back her tears as they finally reached the edge of the forest. "I'm sick of being yelled at for trying to keep you safe, I'm tired of never being good enough!"

Inuyasha huffed as he stomped after her. "Kagome-"

"No! Leave me alone, Inuyasha!" Her feet carried her swiftly towards the well, now in plain sight. The village was long gone behind them.

"Would you fucking stop for a second!" Inuyasha said, grabbing onto her wrist and whirling her around to face him.

Kagome let herself be jerked around, not really having the energy to fight anymore. It was all so stupid. So very, very stupid. She was quickly becoming tired of their little spats over her traveling through time. She wouldn't look at him. She wouldn't let him see her cry.

He didn't see it, but he smelled it sure enough. He stumbled over his words, catching from her scent the moisture on her face. "J-Just- Dammit, woman! You have to stay here! And stop crying!"

"I am _not_ crying!" She wailed, ripping her wrist from his grasp and shoving at his chest.

He didn't budge.

She wiped the back of her hand against her eyes, over her flushed cheeks. "You know what bothers me, Inuyasha?" She sniffed, gaining better control of her tears. "And I mean more than the fact that you obviously don't appreciate what I do for you all the time."

Inuyasha could only huff, half eager to know what bothered her so much.

"What bothers me is the knowledge that if I wasn't able to sense the shards you'd have just gone and left me somewhere."

He rolled his eyes. Every fuckin' time! Why did she have to bring up her shard-detecting powers every time they fought? The last time he'd even thought of dumping her off anywhere to be rid of her had been more than a year and a half ago. "That's ridiculous! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Argh!" She stomped her foot in frustration and grit her teeth together. The fact was, she honestly didn't _know_ what she was talking about anymore. She just wanted to hurt him like she was hurting.

It wasn't working.

Inuyasha reached out to grab her wrist again.

She didn't notice. She wanted to reach down and drag up anything that would make him feel like crap. "I thought we were friends, Inuyasha, and it bothers me that you can't even see past the fact that I can sense the shards." She bit her lip as she looked up into his eyes.

He tried not to wince at her grief-stricken face.

"You can't see past the part that I'm not cooler, or sexier, or better at shooting arrows or whatever than _Kikyou_ was. Well, let me tell you something. Something I've been trying to grind into that dense head of yours since we first met." She glanced down at her wrist held in his hand again, as her voice grew louder.

Fuck. He knew what was coming.

Kagome wrenched her wrist out of Inuyasha's grasp. "I am _not_ Kikyou. And I will never _be_ Kikyou."

He could only stare dumbly as she backed away from him towards the well, anger still contorting her face.

"And I'm not coming back until you get that through your head!" With that, she sat down rather hard onto the side of the well, turned, and swung her legs over the ledge. And before Inuyasha could do anything, she was gone.

Inuyasha's growl climbed up through his chest as he ran to the side of the well and leaned over, shouting into the empty space below. "God-dammit, Kagome! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" He sighed aloud, then, quietly; "I fuckin' know you're not Kikyou, dammit."

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Inuyasha sat in the branches of the Goshinboku tree, his hands cradling his head, his foot swinging absently off the branch.

Damn.

Damn the Gods for bringing that wench to him.

And damn her for making him freeze up every time she got all emotional. It was always _his_ fault, and _his_ doing. Never hers. The others never blamed _her_ for doing anything. He huffed at nothing and crossed his arms in a brooding sort of manor. What a stupid girl, getting all worked up over Kikyou. So what if he had loved the woman before? She was dead. And Kagome needed to get over her stupid jealousy.

"Keh."

His chest expanded as a cocky grin spread across his face. Of _course_ she was jealous over him. What girl wouldn't be? He was ten times better and manlier and stronger than that stupid wolf or the perverted monk or his girly older brother. He laughed inside. He was surely better than that awful human boy in her time. Hoko, was it? Hopo? Hobo? ...Whatever. It was a dumb name anyway. And he would never be any better than Inuyasha.

Now that he thought about it... Kagome should be all over him. He was studly, right? He protected her. She never got hurt when she was with him...

Well, okay. There was that one time where she had gotten herself trapped in the Peach Man's lair, and was almost squeezed to death, and then was being cooked in Sake for the Peach Man's meal later... But that was her own fault, not his...He'd thought she was safe down by the head-tree... thing. And of course, there was the time when her soul was almost sucked out by that witch... What was her name? Oh yeah, Urasue... But in all fairness, he _had_ fallen down a cliff, so it took him a while to find them. And then the time when she was kidnapped by the Thunder Brothers... And when she was almost dragged to hell with that ghost-child girl. And then again, her soul was sucked out for the second time by that child of Naraku, Kanna. And then, she was bitten by Tsubaki's Shikigami, and was being controlled by the shards she'd been carrying...

Man... They'd gone through a lot together in just two years... Two years, and he'd put Kagome in such danger throughout it all. He couldn't count the number of times he'd almost been killed, protecting her. But strangely enough, every time _she'd_ almost been killed was ingrained into his memory. He remembered every single time. And his guilt just piled from there.

Of course, he always managed to make it to rescue her just in time. Or she'd do something weirdly smart that Inuyasha would never have thought of. Like the time they'd battled the Tsukumo no Gama, the frog demon, and she'd used some sort of mist-stuff to make a small flame burst into a huge fire. What had she called that stuff? Something about her hair... Why she would want to put something in her hair that made it easy to catch afire was beyond him, of course. People in her era did stupid things all the time. Like that math voodoo. Was everyone in her time crazy?

Most likely.

Of course, they did have some good stuff, also. Like ramen. Whoever made up ramen was a pure genius in his eyes. And chocolate. Chocolate was very, very good. It also seemed to work as some sort of spell every time Kagome was in... uh... heat, sort of. That time of the month her smells spiked and he had to keep his distance. After she ate the stuff she wasn't so pissy... at least for a few hours afterwards... And the medicine she brought back! Things that cured headaches almost instantly, that made aches and pains disappear suddenly, and she even had these wraps that would keep an otherwise-infection-prone wound so clean it had no chance of getting the least bit infected.

Yeah, Kagome brought some good stuff back with her.

Inuyasha closed his eyes as his body relaxed a little, thinking of Kagome. He really did feel slightly guilty. About this afternoon, that is. Sure, he might have been... a little rash, but she had put herself in danger by trying to help him out in a fight. Again. She'd gotten herself kidnapped, almost raped, and definitely almost killed.

_Battling a large youkai of the Eagle clan, Inuyasha was having a rather rough time, as the youkai tended to use the large wings on his back to catch the currents that Inuyasha's sword made, thus keeping him clear of the Wind Scar. And Inuyasha was getting annoyed. _

"_You damn bird-boy, get down here and fight me like a man!" _

"_Like a human man, you mean?" The youkai clucked. "I don't think so. I'd rather eat you in my nest. You and that little tasty woman of yours." He added, a sinister yet lustful look on his face. _

_Inuyasha griped his sword tighter. "Stay the fuck away from her, this has to do with me and you." _

"_So it does." The youkai called from above, before it swooped down upon them. _

"_I got you now!" Inuyasha shouted, swiping his sword across the tear in the wind. _

_But the youkai wasn't there. He was coming in from behind. _

"_Fuckin'-!" Inuyasha shouted out, realizing too late that he'd fallen for the bird-youkai's trap. _

"_It seems that _I_ have _you_!" The youkai guffawed as it closed in. _

"_No! Inuyasha!" Kagome threw herself in between the two battling males, and Inuyasha barely had time to shove her away in order to dodge the swiping claws himself. _

_The wind created from the youkai's talons swept Inuyasha back, cutting up his body and flinging him into a tree. He moaned, the fall giving him a splitting headache. That one hurt. _

"_Inuyaaaashaaa!" Kagome screamed, and he was up on his feet in an instant. _

"_Kagome!" He called out, as the youkai flew away into the air, Kagome dangling dangerously from his grasp. "Fuck!" He shouted, more to himself than the bird-youkai. He had been careless. How could he let it take Kagome? And she had the damn jewel, for fucks' sake! _

_Letting out a ferocious battle yell, he leapt from his spot in the crumbles of the tree and rushed off into the forest. He had to be quick. He couldn't lose the youkai's scent. He couldn't lose the jewel. _

_He couldn't lose Kagome._

"Hey, Inuyasha!" Shippo called up from below the branches.

Groaning inwardly, Inuyasha glanced down at the young kit, choosing to ignore him. He was in a brooding mood, and he didn't want Shippo to ruin it for him.

_Inuyasha finally made it to the top of the cliff, pulling himself over the edge, and panting with relief. The climb had been long and tedious, and perfectly straight, if not at a slight acute angle. But he couldn't stop for a rest, as tired as he was. _

_He straightened up and sniffed the air, setting Tetsusaiga on his shoulder. This was it. The lair of the eagle youkai. He could smell it. Worse, he could smell Kagome's stress and fear._

_The cave loomed in front of him, huge and eerie and dank. He stepped close to the mouth of the cave, and peered inside, willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness faster. Again, he sniffed the air, searching out any immediate danger, other than the youkai itself. _

_Sure that there were no surprises awaiting him at the entrance, he ran full speed into the depths of the cave, his anger building. When he got his claws on that youkai... _

_His heart skipped a beat when he heard Kagome cry out in fear. He could smell it, thick as the youkai aura itself. He rounded a corner and stopped, his eyes wide at the scene laid out before him. _

_Kagome was stretched out on a large, crudely-made birds nest, her blouse ripped open, and skirt torn. The bird-youkai, now resized back down to his more human-looking form, hunched over her, kissing her neck and chuckling. "Lucky me, lucky me." He crooned. "Looks like the little bastard you were with hasn't claimed you yet." _

_Kagome let out a growl of frustration. "Get off of me!" She shouted out, tears streaming down her face. "Inuyasha will kill you!" She struggled with all her might, but the ropes that bound her hands and legs were too tight. _

"_Well, he just might try." The youkai clucked. "When he sees what I've done to you, that is." His hand slipped slowly up her side and into her blouse, groping. _

_Kagome let out a sob. "Inuyashaaaa!" _

"_Hi-YA!" Inuyasha shouted, bringing down his sword as hard and fast as he possibly could, slicing the youkai to ribbons. He stood in the spot where the bird-youkai had stood, and glared down at his sword, unable to look Kagome in the eye. _

"_I...Inuyasha..?" She breathed out, her voice high and hopeful._

"_Dammit." He cursed under his breath, and hurried to untie her. "Kagome. Fuck, Kagome, are you okay?" _

"_Inuyasha!" She cried, sobbing as he sliced the ropes on her hands to shreds. Her arms now free to move, she threw them around Inuyasha's neck, crying into his fire-rat clothing. "Inuyasha, he was going to..." _

"_Hush." He demanded, his voice tight. "He's gone now, wench, you're safe." _

"_I know." Her voice shook. "I know, but... but-" _

_Inuyasha growled and wrapped his arms around her waist, comforting her as best he could. They lay there for a long time, in the dead youkais' nest, Kagome hiccupping and sniffling, and Inuyasha holding her to his chest._

"Hey, Inuyasha! I know you can hear me with those _stoopid_ dog ears of yours!"

He let out a low growl. What an annoying little-

"Hey Inuyasha, Miroku and Kaede are looking for you. They say it has to do with Naraku!"

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the name, and he twisted around to look at the kit down below. "Naraku? What about him?"

The kitsune shrugged. "Dunno. They just said that you need to hurry up and get over here. I think Kaede is worried that something's gunna happen. She said that she had a vision, and-"

Without a word, Inuyasha jumped from the branches and scooped Shippo up, racing back to the village.

"Hey!" The kitsune shouted, surprised. "Why you gotta always be so rough?"

"Shut up." He growled back. He was worried. Humans didn't have visions unless they were lying... Or something very, very bad was going to happen. Kaede wasn't one much to lie about things. Especially things about Naraku. "Did she say anything else, runt?" He asked, his eyes focused ahead, dead set on reaching Kaede's hut as soon as possible.

Inuyasha could feel it, down to his very bones.

Something was definitely wrong.

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"Kagome!"

"Kagome-chan!"

Kagome let out a small moan under her breath as Eri and Ayumi came rushing up to her side, their eyes wide. She had just stepped inside the gates to her school, and they were already on her. She could tell they were bursting at the seems with gossip and such. It had been quite a while since she had been to school. It was kind of depressing, really.

"Kagome, are you feeling any better?" Eri asked, her hands clasped together in front of her mouth.

"Yeah, it's been like, a month." Ayumi added, bending at the hips in a questioning manor.

Kagome smiled and shrugged off her friend's worried, curious looks. "Um, yeah. I feel much better, thank you."

"Where are your school clothes, Kagome?" Eri asked.

"Did you get them bloody again?" Ayumi wondered.

She shook her head, feeling strangely out of place without her usual green-and-white school uniform. Sighing, she went along with the excuses her friends told her about that her grandfather had, in turn, told them. Was this what her life had become? Lying to all her friends and schoolmates so she could go off and fight demons five hundred years in the past with a hanyou whom she just might be in love with?

"-I mean," Eri was going on, "breast cancer at YOUR age, you poor thing!"

Kagome's hair stood on end. Brest cancer?

"Really?" Ayumi asked, looking down at Eri. "I heard it was her uterus." She turned back to Kagome. "Weren't you having your uterus taken out?"

She was totally going to kill her stupid grandfather. Now she had different types of cancer? "I can assure you that both of my breasts, as well as my uterus, are quite fine, thank you."

Ayumi didn't look completely convinced, but she nodded along anyway. "You know Kagome, for a girl who's sick all the time, you sure look healthy every time we see you. More than healthy." She paused, glancing down at Kagome's legs. "Did you GAIN muscle mass or something?"

"Ayumi!" Kagome cried, her cheeks flushing a dark rose color. "That's not something you ask a girl!"

"What?" Ayumi asked defensively. "I'm your friend! And I'm serious!"

"Oh, it doesn't look bad, Kagome." Eri assured her, patting her friend's shoulder. "We're just worried, and a little curious. Did the hospital assign you a personal trainer?" She asked, smiling.

"Yeah," Ayumi added, "because you look more healthy than WE do. And WE don't have cancer!"

"Guys, I do NOT have cancer." Kagome explained, exasperated. "I was... with a friend."

Eri gasped.

Ayumi shook her head and sighed.

It was Kagome's turn to be defensive. "What?" She asked, furrowing her brows.

"You know _what_." Ayumi stated, crossing her arms.

Eri nodded.

"You were with _HIM_ again." Her voice had gone from declarative to accusatory. "The guy. Inuyasha."

Kagome shrugged. "What if I was?"

"We've already discussed this. Didn't he dump you like, a million times over?" Ayumi adjusted her headband. "We thought you agreed that he wasn't good for you."

"Well..." She tapped her toe on the pavement, feeling a blush creep slowly up from beneath her skin. "Yeah, but... Sometimes he can be nice."

"Sometimes?"

"And he always saves me."

"From what, your curfew?"

"And he can be cute when he's jealous."

"Cute if you mean violent, sure."

"And once in a while..." Kagome lifted her head, looking past her friends in a dream-like-trance. "Once in a while he lets down his guard and says the nicest things to me."

Ayumi sighed. "Well, that's good, what does he say?"

"I smell good." Kagome smiled.

Her friends faulted.

"You _smell_ good?" Eri gasped.

"What the hell kind of compliment is that?" Ayumi demanded.

Kagome shrugged. "I thought it was nice of him." She blinked a few times at her friends' unbelieving looks. "Well, considering what it takes to get him to say even that, I think it means he at least likes me a little.."

Ayumi shook her head and wrapped a comforting arm around Kagome's neck. "Come on." She said. "Let's get to homeroom. You've been absent so much the last thing you need is to be tardy."

Kagome let out a sigh of relief as she was led into her school. Ayumi could be overbearing at times, sure, but when it came down to it, she knew when to let things drop. That's why she was such a good friend.

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School had finally been let out for the day, and Kagome felt nothing but drained. Her friends, classes, teachers, catch-up homework, it was all sucking out her energy little by little. She wouldn't be surprised if someday she'd just drop out and live in the past full time.

That thought weighed heavily in her mind as she slowly dragged her feet out the front gates, her backpack feeling heavier than usual. She remembered a time when classes had been fun. When she actually enjoyed getting up to go learn and see friends and talk gossip. When she didn't have to worry about whether or not anyone who lived five hundred years ago was okay, and not being killed by demons.

She remembered a time without Inuyasha...

Which ultimately made her remember why she was putting up with her double life. Why she lied to her friends and ditched school. Why she was slowly going crazy with all the time travel. It was all because she couldn't live a life without him anymore. He meant too much to her now. He was too important.

And he may not really feel the same way, sure, but-

She turned a corner and screamed as a hand shot out and grabbed at her mouth. An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into a small alley, crushing her up against a hard chest.

Kagome's heart sped, pounding inside her rib cage, feeling as if it would burst. This was it. She wasn't going to die by the hands of a demon, as she'd prepared herself to over the years. She was going to be murdered by a mere human. How utterly anti-climatic.

"Shhh..." A gruff voice whispered into her ear. "It's okay, Kagome. Don't struggle."

What?

Instantly, she stopped fighting him, more out of shock than obedience. He knew her name! And his voice... It sounded familiar, but off a little. Her eyes darted to the wall across from her, and focused on the urine stain that ran down to the pavement. She sucked in hard through her nose, willing herself to calm down. The stench of piss mixed with... something else. Again, it was familiar, yet... Not.

"I'm going to let you go, okay?" His gruff voice sounded a little strained.

She nodded.

"Don't yell, and don't run. I'm going to turn you around to face me, okay? I'm not going to hurt you."

Again, she nodded. Eager to know who it was that was holding her so close, and totally planning on kneeing him in the balls and running for it.

The hands moved away from her mouth and waist and held onto her shoulders, slowly turning her to face her attacker.

A gasp slipped from her lips, and her eyes widened.

It was Inuyasha... But it wasn't.

Kagome's mouth dropped open as she looked him over. He wasn't in his usual reddish fire rat fur armor. He was actually dressed as if he belonged in her time. He wore jeans and a grey t-shirt, covered by a leather coat. He even had shoes on, for Christ sake. His hair was tied back into a ponytail, and yet, even with all those differences, he was still Inuyasha. He still had the rosary beads that bound them together though time.

"I-Inuyasha, wha-"

BOOM.

Kagome's world shook. She was flung up against Inuyasha, and his arms came around to wrap her protectively next to him. It was an earthquake. A large one.

Seconds later, it was over, and sirens started blaring, the city of Tokyo suddenly alive with commotion.

"Earthquake…?" Kagome wondered aloud, forgetting for a second that Inuyasha, who wasn't quite Inuyasha, was still there, next to her.

That is, until his hands tightened on her arms. "Fuck." He muttered out. "He's coming."

Kagome tilted her head back so she could look at his face. Had he gotten taller? "Who's coming?" She asked, her eyes wide.

Before she could react, Inuyasha turned and shoved her up against the wall, his nails digging into her skin, his eyes fierce. "Listen to me, Kagome. I only have time to say this once."

Kagome nodded, her body frozen. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Because this wasn't Inuyasha. Not the one she knew anyway. He seemed... older, somehow.

"They're dead." He choked out. "Everyone. No one escaped the past. I couldn't get anyone through the well. He destroyed it." His head dropped down, in what Kagome could only assume was grief. "He destroyed it, dammit."

She gapped up at him. He wasn't making any sense at all. "You mean, the well's gone? What the hell is going o-"

"Listen! I'm not the Inuyasha you know." His eyes were wild, darting from her to the street, and then back to her again, as if he were nervous about something. "I've lived all these years, Kagome. These five hundred years so I could get to you, finally. At this very moment in time, Naraku is taking over control. Underground. Slowly. Soon he'll rule everything. He killed everyone from back then, Kagome. Everyone's gone. He killed them while you were here, and over the years he's been overtaking the government." He paused, making sure he had perfect eye contact. "He's got all the shards, Kagome." He breathed, as he glanced down at the glass bottle around her neck, before looking back into her eyes. "All but the ones you posses."

Kagome opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't talk, listen. He's on his way here now for those shards." He paused, his voice cracking. "I escaped him. I ran and hid, until I was able to gain my strength back. But when you came back, Kagome, I was too late to save you. You were..."

His claws tightened around her arms, his bangs hiding his moist eyes. Before she could respond, Inuyasha pulled her into a tight hug, his arms holding her to him as if she alone were keeping him alive. "Kagome." His voice was full to the brim with emotion. "I can't believe I got to you in time. When I saw you were dead, I-"

She couldn't stand it anymore. He wasn't the Inuyasha she knew, but he was still Inuyasha. And she loved him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her confusion and fear overtaking her. "I- I'm not dead, Inuyasha. I'm here. I'm not going to leave, I-"

He pulled her back, suddenly, looking into her eyes for a fraction of a second before he crushed his lips to hers in a searing, frantic kiss. Kagome let out a cry of surprise as he held her head against his. She felt heat spread throughout her as her mind rushed to catch up to her body.

A second later, it was over, and just as he had pulled her to him he pushed her away at arm's length. "I love you Kagome. I was an idiot and never told you, and you died." He paused. "I loved you with every part of me back then. Please don't let my foolishness chase you away. Please be patient with me, okay?"

Kagome didn't respond.

She was shocked.

_BOOM._

Her world shook again, and Inuyasha let out a string of curses. "He's coming. We need to get you to the well."

"Well?" Kagome blinked through the tears that had gathered in her eyes. She still wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. "But I thought the well was destroyed. Didn't you just say-"

"Not yet. It's not gone yet, I got to you in time, to warn you." He gripped onto her wrist, and pulled her next to him again. "There's enough time to change history. There's still enough time."

When she glanced up at him, he was looking away, out the ally and across the street and over the cliff to the city of Tokyo below. He grit his teeth, and Kagome could hear the deep growl in his voice, could feel the rumbling in his chest as he cursed again.

"Let's go." He mumbled, and before Kagome knew what was happening, she was thrown onto his back. He raced forward, leaping over benches and dodging around confused bystanders. They turned another corner and reached the steps up to Kagome's shrine-house. Inuyasha bounded up the stairs, and Kagome squeezed her legs around his waist tighter. He flew across her large front yard and retched the sliding door to the well house open, all but throwing her inside and slamming the door behind them.

"God! Inuyasha, what-"

"Hush." He breathed out, his back to the shrine door, his ears twitching back and forth, listing. Kagome couldn't guess what for.

After a few seconds, Kagome started to become annoyed. Her brain still hadn't caught up to her yet, and her lips still felt all puffy and swollen from the kiss.

She blushed. Oh yeah, like thinking about _that_ at a time like _this_ was a good idea. "Inuyasha...?" She whispered out.

He was next to her in an instant, and he pushed her back towards the well. "Go back, Kagome. Go back and warn the others."

"Warn the others about what?" She gasped out, desperate to understand.

"Get as many as you can away from the village. Then get back here, and bring me and everyone else you can get through the well with you." His hand came up to rest on her cheek and she leaned into it, desperate for some sort of comforting normality. "Don't die on me, Kagome. Maybe this time around you'll be able to save their lives."

Who was she kidding? When had she ever had a normal day in her life since she had turned fifteen? "Inuyasha, I-"

She didn't finish her sentence.

He pulled her to him again, kissing her one more time, forcing her mouth open and taking from her. There was a desperation to his kiss, just like before. Like he was saying goodbye. Then he pulled back. He shoved her, as gently as he could, just enough to make her lose her balance and fall backwards.

Into the mouth of the well.

The last thing she saw what the rugged, tired face of a hanyou that looked so familiar... Yet different.

His tears landed on her face as she passed through time.

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.o0o0o0o0o.

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Hope you liked it!

Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.

~SugarRos


	2. Chapter 02

From the Future

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Author's Note: Welcome back. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But right now they're mine to manipulate. I'm going to have so much fun.

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Chapter 2:

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It was early in the afternoon when Inuyasha arrived at the small hut in the village he had come to call his home. The clear blue of the sky stood out against the natural tones of the earth, a usual occurrence in his time, with none of that stuff that made Kagome's time reek. What had she called it? Pollution. Yeah, that was it.

Inuyasha ground his teeth together loudly as he sat in the middle of the hut, across from Sango and Miroku. They were bickering over what to do about Kaede's vision. It was getting them nowhere. Of course, it was a slightly better pastime than sitting around sulking about why Kagome should hate him, but still. They weren't doing anything about the situation other than arguing whether Kaede's vision was actually that, a vision, or if it was only a conjure of her mind, putting together pieces of different nightmares they'd all had at one time or another.

"I just think we should take this as seriously as possible." Sango was saying, her hands doing half the talking for her. Face flushed and upset at Kaede's words of warning, she shook a finger in Inuyasha's direction. "It's not like this happens to Kaede every day. And on the off chance that what she saw _does_ come true, wouldn't it be better if we were prepared?" Her finger wagged.

Inuyasha's teeth continued their insistent grinding, an obvious sign of his annoyance. He had the sudden urge to bite Sango's finger off. "It makes no sense, Woman!" He growled. "Naraku doesn't even have all the shards yet!" Shippou made a bored snort to his left, which he promptly ignored. "He's been collecting them all these years like we have." The kit started gnawing on his left arm, which was resting on Tetsusiga. Inuyasha shook him off. "What reason would the bastard have to attack us at this moment?" He finished up with a bop for the young cub.

"Ow!"

"That, I do not know." Kaede replied before Sango could, and everyone turned their attention towards the old woman. Inuyasha thought she looked ominous with her face shadowed above the flames. More weary than normal. "Visions do not let me in on the details, young ones. All I know is what I saw. The time is near. We all must be prepared."

He snorted in response. "I'm thinking it was more of a night terror. Did you have a bad dream, witch?" He placed his fists together and cracked his knuckles for emphasis.

"Do not take this lightly, child." Kaede's voice had turned cold suddenly, sending a chill up Inuyasha's spine. For some reason the look reminded him of Kagome.

"Inuyasha…" Miroku said as tenderly as possible. "I do actually believe that what Kaede had was a true vision. Not a night terror. Sango was here to witness it."

Inuyasha turned his head to Sango and raised an eyebrow. "You saw it?"

She nodded, looking grim. "It… wasn't pleasant." Her finger dropped, much to Inuyasha's relief, and her face lost some of its color.

He didn't reply, but fell into silence along with the others, letting the new information sink in. He could feel their eyes on him. Watching him. Waiting for an answer. After a few moments, he let out an aggravated sigh. "Okay," he growled, "let's pretend that it _is_ real. That the wench's vision _is_ going to come true." He turned back to Kaede, eyes narrowing. "What exactly did you see? How was Naraku attacking? And what the hell was _I_ doing while he was attacking? You know I'd be all over that bastard in a second! It's not like I haven't kicked his ass before!"

The others stayed silent, although the intensity in the atmosphere had grown unimaginably thick. Inuyasha's eyes roamed to each person in the hut, each avoiding his gaze in turn. What the hell was wrong with everyone? Why wouldn't they just take his good advice and leave it be?

Finally, Kaede spoke up. "Inuyasha, I'm afraid that-"

The rest of her sentence, however, did not reach Inuyasha's ears. His senses had gone into overdrive, and all he could now smell was Kagome. Lifting his nose up into the air, he sniffed four times. Three to make sure it was really her, and a fourth to take it in, to calm his racing heart. "…Kagome…" He muttered.

"Kagome's back?!" Squealed Shippou, bounding up from his lazy position on the floor, excited that his makeshift mother was in their time again. "She said she'd bring be chocolate again this time!" He bounced up and down, talking mainly to Sango, who smiled down at him. "And those colored sweet things too!" He let out a childish laugh. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Inuyasha," Kaede's voice rose over Shippou's excited one, "we still must talk about-"

He didn't acknowledge Kaede's words, he merely stood and pulled the flap of the hut open, leaving Kaede mid-sentence and staring out into the direction where the trail met the beginning of the forest, sniffing at the air. "….Wait a second…" He uttered, more for his sake than anyone else's. "Something's not right."

"Eh?" Shippou stopped his bouncing and looked up at Inuyasha in question.

"Stay here, Squirt." Was all the explanation Inuyasha gave as he bounded off towards the trail, leaving the whimpering kit behind.

Sango stepped out of the hut behind him, watching quietly as Inuyasha disappeared into the forest. "Don't worry, Shippou." She said, placing a calming hand on his back. "He'll bring her back here."

Shippou's eyes welled up with tears. "Do ya think she's okay?" He sniffed.

She bent down to lovingly cradle the cub. "Of course she is." She said, scooping him up into her arms and smiling as best she could. "And I'll bet she's brought you lots of chocolate, too!" And she tickled him on his belly.

Shippou's childish laughter rang through the trees.

.

.

"NO!" Kagome's scream echoed into nothingness as the image of Inuyasha's tired, worn, sad face disappeared into the darkness. Her heartbeat slowed as she choked on her own voice and felt the warm sensation of passing time flow through her body. It usually had a calming effect on her. This time, it just made her nauseous.

It was crazy. It couldn't possibly be happening.

Inuyasha's words replayed over and over in her head as she reached out to him with her mind, wanting him to be next to her, to reassure her that she really was going insane and there was no such thing as two Inuyasha's existing for her now.

But what he said wouldn't leave her alone, and as she fell, his words rang in her ears.

"You were dead!"

_But I'm not dead!_ She screamed inside her head.

"He killed everyone, I couldn't stop him."

_He didn't kill me!_

"I escaped the past, but it was too late… you were already…"

_No… No, I'm here!_

"Kagome…"

_I'm alive!_

"I loved you with all my being back then."

_Love me now!_

"Please be patient."

_I've been patient for years!_

"Get everyone from the past."

_But… But I-_

"I love you."

The moment Kagome hit the dirt in the bottom of the well, she breathed in the fresh air of the past and looked up into the warm, cloudless sky that shone down onto the top of her head. She barely noticed the tears falling over her lashes as she stood frozen, shaking, trying desperately to catch her breath. She needed to find Inuyasha, to know he was okay and not dead, to know that they were _all_ alive.

She held her breath as she listened intently for any sounds of torment, death, destruction or fighting, but all the sounds she heard were the merry chirping of birds and crickets, and the soft whooshing of the mid-day breeze through the forest branches. Assured there was no immediate danger anywhere around the well, she hurriedly scrambled up the side and flung herself over the ledge.

It wasn't a smooth move, as her skirt caught in the uneven wood of the well and it flung her head-over-heel onto the earth. She hit the ground hard on her back, coughed, and turned onto her side, holding her bruised ribs and hiccupping through her tears. She sucked in a lung full of air, trying to calm herself by breathing as slowly as she could. Blinking her eyes against the warm sun and bright, blue sky, she tipped her head back to bask for a few seconds, willing her speeding heart to slow.

Oh Gods. What a day to come back to. A day where she could almost pretend that nothing had happened.

...Almost.

There was no way in any of the seven hells she could just forget that an Inuyasha she hadn't known existed a few hours ago, appeared out of nowhere and stated she was, in actuality, dead, proclaimed his love for her, and then proceeded to kiss her breath away.

She couldn't believe what had happened. The violent shaking of the ground was no earthquake or volcanic eruption, and the horror she felt from the impossibly loud noises of buildings being crushed under a force of something terrible couldn't be anything less than the sensation that something gigantic and imaginable evil was destroying everything in it's path.

The thought made her groan as she struggled onto her hands and feet, pushing her body to obey hr and stand. She didn't quite get there as she felt sudden nausea, and stayed on her knees, her palms mashing into bits of grass and twig. She stared at the ground as her hands clutched up fistfuls of dirt, and the sudden urge to throw up passed over her again. She dry-heaved a few times before she got herself back under control.

She'd never been more scared in her life.

But, no. No! She had to hold it together! She needed to find Inuyasha and let him know what was going on. Warn him and the others about Naraku. But the strength that usually carried her through bloody battles and rough terrain seemed to have given up on her.

"Kagome!"

She heard his voice through the trees, which at first didn't really register.

"Kagome!"

Her name. He was shouting her name. Oh thank all seven of the lucky Gods.

She heard him burst through the trees, felt the wind strengthen from the quickness of his run, and she leaned back, sitting on her heels. She turned her head to look up at him with her wide, wet eyes. His presence was blurry through her tears, but it was him alright, in his usual garb, not donning any clothing from her time. He was alive. And he wasn't bloody. His sword wasn't drawn, and he didn't look like he'd been through a life-and-death battle.

Instead he looked annoyed.

"Why the hell are you crying?!" He barked at her, stomping the last few feet between them, his eyebrow twitching.

Kagome would have laughed at his predictable question had her heart not been in her throat. Still, relief that he was okay rushed through her, and the adrenalin that had been attacking her body suddenly plummeted. She felt exhausted. She was drained emotionally, and unable to stay up.

She felt herself tipping backwards, on the edge of passing out, and she didn't register his quick movement to her side, as he wrapped his hands around her, keeping her up, until she realized she hadn't hit the ground.

His annoyed expression had now changed to worry as she lifted her heavy lids to look up into his face. "Gods, Kagome!" He breathed. "What happened to you?!" He tapped her cheek lightly, aware of his claws. "Kagome," he repeated, "what happened? Are you okay?"

"I-Inuyasha…" Her voice trailed off into a quiet sigh, and she felt the edge of darkness start to take over her weary body.

Inuyasha's voice rose to a growl as he felt her start to fade away. "Kagome, no, you have to tell me what's wrong." He shook her lightly. "You can't pass out, that's not good, you might not wake up." He tapped at her cheek a bit harder, and the darkness faded from her vision a bit, thought it was still there, on the brink of her consciousness. His voice was rough, but filled with worry, and she couldn't help but smile a small smile through her weariness.

That's right. She couldn't pass out. She still needed to warn the others. "Inuyasha…" She breathed, clutching onto his outer coat. "Naraku is… I came back to warn…" She couldn't seem to get her jumbled thoughts together, and she felt another rise of panic as well as a sob rushing up into her throat. The tears started again, and she didn't have the energy to wipe her eyes, so she clutched her hand into the red fabric and drew herself closer to him, breathing in his earthy scent, feeling his heartbeat through his chest.

He'd kissed her, his future self, and she had loved it. She wanted more than anything to close the distance between them and see if he kissed the same way. Hard and rough and quick and passionate, just as he had in her own time. She wanted to know that it had really been him. His heartbeat wasn't enough for her anymore.

God she loved him. She was out of her mind in love with him, she knew, as she sobbed into his clothes. The words that she had intended to use to tell him of Naraku choked her, and all she wanted was for him to say he loved her again.

She knew though, though the haze of her despair, that he had no idea he'd said it in the first place. Technically he wouldn't say it for another five hundred years. The thought made her lonely. It was driving her crazy, knowing he felt as she did, and yet not being able to act on her feelings. She was going out of her mind.

"Fuckin'…" She heard Inuyasha mumble as he scooped her up fully into his arms and hugged her close. "What's wrong with you, eh? You're not bleeding anywhere or anything, wench." He took off into the woods, although she didn't pay attention to where he was headed, just to the steady rhythm of his quick footsteps, and it wasn't long before he stopped, and more voices broke through her grief.

"Inuyasha, what'd you do to her?"

"I didn't do nothin' runt."

Kagome felt herself being lowered onto the floor, and realized she was in Kaede's hut. She cracked her tired eyes open to see her friends moving around, trying to make her more comfortable.

"Is she okay?" Sango's worried voice broke out.

"Had she been hurt?" She felt Miroku's hands slide up her arm.

"Don't touch her, you lecherous Monk!" Inuyasha snapped back, not answering his question.

"Kagooomeee!" Shippou's childish voice wailed out next to her. "Kagome, wake up!"

Inuyasha growled again. "Back off kit, or I'll rip you a new one!" His demanding voice was close, right by her side. "Where's the old hag?" He asked as Shippou pouted, but didn't leave Kagome's side.

"I'm here." Kaede called out as she entered the hut behind him. "Inuyasha, place this under her nose, it will clear her head and bring her back to us." She winced as she sat down and handed Inuyasha some sort of root. "Did she tell you what happened?"

He shook his head. "No, she was just a pile of mess by the well. She wasn't speaking right, something about Naraku." He crinkled his nose at the strong-smelling root. "What the hell is this?!"

"It's a medicinal herb that will kick her awake, clear her head and such. Place it right under her nose so she gets a good whiff."

Kagome felt his clawed hand slide under her head and lift up slightly, and only seconds later a smell extremely intense filled her nostrils, and her mind snapped back into place, her vision cleared and the darkness that had threatened to take over vanished. She moved her head away from the smell, jerking back. It smelled horrible.

Inuyasha pulled the root away and tightened his grip on her so she wouldn't hurt herself. She was now staring wide-eyes into five overly concerned faces all leaning over her body.

"Kagome….?" Shippou's voice wavered as he leaned down, his small, slightly wet nose almost touching hers.

"Shippou…" Her voice was scratchy from sobbing so much, and her chest hurt from hiccupping. Slowly she sat up, everyone but Inuyasha, who was careful to make sure she didn't fall back down, backed away to give her some space. Her heartbeat was normal again as she tried to find her bearings. Kaede's hut looked the same, with the small fire in the middle of the hut blazing away behind the others.

She couldn't help but imagine how she looked to everyone. Her face was stiff with dried tears, and her hands and clothes were covered in a coat of sand and dry twigs and grass. Not to mention that her lips still felt swollen. Would they be able to tell someone had kissed her?

"Kagome, are you okay?" Sango's soft voice found it's way to her ears, and she nodded; still weary, but aware.

"What the hell happened, Wench?" Inuyasha's harsh tone spoke from behind her, his hands still holding her steady, as if afraid she'd faint right over again. She turned her head to look up into those hardened amber eyes as they glowered down at her.

Future Inuyasha suddenly flooded her memory again, and she stared to panic once more. "Inuyasha." She croaked out. "He's coming. He's coming and we need to warn everyone and get them through the well! He's going to kill everyone in the village and Miroku and Sango and Kaede and-" another sob crept up into her throat as her eyes welled up with tears once again.

"What about me?" Shippou asked from Miroku's side.

The Monk shook his head down at the kit. "Shush."

"Kagome, calm down." Inuyasha growled out, smelling the spike in her fear once again. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Naraku!" Her voice became panicked, more urgent. "He's coming here, and he'll kill everyone and destroy everything and then he'll go to-"

Inuyasha moved faster than she could see and grabbed her, only slightly rough, by her chin, his face now inches from hers. "Did you have a vision, Wench?"

Kagome hiccupped, then shook her head.

"Then how do you know this to be true?" It was Kaede this time, and Kagome tried to turn her head to look at the old woman, but Inuyasha held her fast, never breaking eye contact, searching for something in her gaze. For what, she couldn't guess.

They were close. His mouth was only inches from hers, and the image of him crushing his lips down upon her own flited through her mind before she inwardly scolded herself for thinking of such a thing at a time like this. "Someone…" she breathed, "someone told me so." She stuttered out, knowing how absolutely ridiculous her story sounded.

"Who?" Inuyasha's voice was low and quiet.

She stared into his eyes for what seemed like forever before she spoke. "You did."

He jerked back as if he'd been slapped, giving Kagome the time she needed to wrench away from his grasp and turn to the others. Her gaze fell onto Kaede. "I know this sounds crazy, but it's true! He was there, but it wasn't him! But it was, just five hundred years later, and he told me I was dead, and he'd waited for years, and that I had to get everyone thought the well before they died, and then Naraku attacked my time! He was in my time! I heard him! And then Inuyasha shoved me into the well and told me that he lo-"

"Kagome!"

She winced at the harshness in Inuyasha's tone and turned slowly to see him glowering over her.

"You're saying a bunch of nonsense. You sound just like her!" He pointed an accusing finger at Kaede.

Kagome stiffened. "What do you mean?"

Sango came to her side and knelt down, placing a delicate hand on her shoulder. "Kaede had a vision earlier today. We were just discussing it before you came."

"A vision about what?"

A hushed silence settled over the room, and Kagome looked from one to the next, confused even more so than she had been before, not understanding why all gazes suddenly avoided her save Shippou.

He blinked up at her with all the innocence of a two-year old. "About Naraku attacking the village and killing all of us."

A collective sigh was heard around the room due to Shippou's delicacy for dishing out information, but all Kagome heard was the sound of blood rushing through her ears as she finally understood that it would all come true.

All of it.

Everyone was going to die.

Funnily enough, the one thought she had before she passed out cold onto the floor was that she would never experience another kiss from the one guy who wouldn't do it for another five hundred years in the first place.

.

.

When Kagome awoke again, it was night, and the sound of hushed, hurried voices filled her ears. She moaned lightly, her brain throbbing against her skull, and she reached around to the back of her head to find the lump that had grown due to her spectacular fainting affair. Apparently, she hadn't been lucky enough to have Inuyasha catch her this time.

She rolled onto her side and pushed her upper body up onto her hands, blinking her eyes at the circle of her friends. No one but Inuyasha had noticed she'd awoken, and his ears twitched in her direction, although he gave no other notice that he knew she was up.

"What time is it?" She croaked out.

Sango turned her head to look at her friend and smiled. "Kagome, you're awake!" She stood and brushed off her long skirt. "I'll check that clock of yours." She said, happy to be able to use one of her modern contraptions. Walking over to Kagome's belongings, she pulled out a mall wristwatch. "Um… I think is says four… but I could be wrong." She smiled again, sheepishly.

Kagome motioned for Sango to bring the watch over and peeked at the hands inside the little glass case. She sighed. "You're right, Sango. Four a.m. Goodness. I was asleep for a long time." She rubbed at her tired eyes, still weary.

Sango had knelt in front of her, acting as a barrier from the others. "Kagome," she whispered in a concerned tone, "are you feeling a bit better?"

Kagome nodded her head in response, although she wasn't sure if she was feeling better so much as too worn out to feel anything but drained. None of this was going the way it should. Everyone should be safe on the other side of the well now.

"That's good." Sango placed her hand onto Kagome's and squeezed, surprising the tired girl a bit. She brought it p to her chest where he heart was, and gave her a caring look. "Kagome, you push yourself too hard, I've been really worried about you. You've drained yourself out."

Kagome was extremely thankful for Sango. Never in her life had she had such a good friend, although Kagome knew three girls who would mutilate her for saying so. But the reality was that although she loved her friends from school, there would always be a barrier between them. She couldn't confide in them fully about her love life, not to mention that she time-traveled rather frequently. They'd think her crazy. Sango, however, was fully aware of Kagome's actual life. She knew the real reason why Kagome missed school, the real reason why Kagome was never home, and the real reason why Kagome refused to date Hojou. Sango knew it all, and Kagome loved having that female friend that she didn't have to lie to or keep secrets from.

She sighed and smiled as best she could at Sango. "I know, I'm sorry I've worried you." Her voice was shaky.

"Is the child up?" Kaede tried to peek around Sango from her sitting position on the floor, and Kagome stood, slowly, still wobbly from her ordeal, letting Sango help her up, and shuffled over to the fire.

"Yeah, I'm up." She glanced around at her friend's tired faces. "Why is everyone still awake?"

"We've been discussing the current events." Miroku explained kindly. "With what bits you've said have happened, and with Kaede's vision, there's a good chance that this will all come to pass."

Kagome took a seat between him and Sango, directly across from Inuyasha, who was still busy avoiding her gaze. She gave up trying to nonchalantly get his attention, and instead stared into the fire, too tired to argue with anyone anymore, much less a brooding half-breed. If he didn't believe her story, fine. She could easily figure out how to deal with it all herself. She didn't need his help.

Kaede began to speak of her vision again, but Kagome was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to pay attention. She kept her gaze on the warm, dancing flame and wondered how Inuyasha in the future was holding up. Had he gotten away from whatever it was that had been causing the massive earthquakes? He'd said Naraku was coming. Did that mean that Naraku was, at this very moment, destroying everything in her time?

God, were her friends okay? Her family?

She hadn't really had the time to sit and think about any of that before. She'd been panicked about everyone on this side of the well. Too panicked to worry about those in her time. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach. What if she got everyone to her time, and everything was destroyed? What if everyone was dead? What was the point in going through with what the future Inuyasha had told her to do if Naraku could get them in both times? Should she just ignore the future Inuyasha's plea to run from the past, or stay and destroy Naraku now, so he could never have the chance to get to her time in the first place? He'd said if they fought Naraku they would lose, but maybe they could-

"There's no point discussing this! I'm going out! Getting more wood for the fire!" Kagome was jolted from her thoughts as Inuyasha's patience had gotten the better of him, and he threw his arms up into the air, standing and stomping towards the flap.

Sango stood up after him. "We'll come help you, Inuyasha." She said, making her way towards the doorway. "Let's let Lady Kaede and Kagome talk."

"Aye." Agreed the Monk, placing his hand on Inuyasha's arm. "I'm sure Lady Kaede will get the full story from Kagome." He nudged the disgruntled hanyou out the door.

Inuyasha let himself be led outside. Kagome could tell he was angry, as well as confused, but she felt that she was even more so, and extremely upset as well. Still, she needed him to not look at her like she was crazy. Truthfully, she needed him to not look at her at all, at least at the moment. She was still completely shook up from what the future Inuyasha had said to her. From what he had done to her.

…Had it all even been real?

His lips felt like a distant memory.

…Although, his warning didn't. His warning felt freezing cold, like ice water that had just been splashed in her face.

She bit her bottom lip with her teeth, realizing that yes, the kiss had been as real as his warning. Her lips still felt swollen.

After only a few moments of silence, Kaede spoke up again. This time she had Kagome's full attention. "I've a feeling you are not telling us all you know. At least," she gave a small chuckle, "all was said too fast when you were upset. Let us clear the air here. What has happened, Kagome?"

She looked towards the small window, noticing the tiniest bits of daylight. "I'm not so sure myself. It all happened so quickly."

Kaede stayed silent, letting Kagome's thought roam. Letting her speak freely.

"I was on my way home from school when I found him. Or rather," she couldn't help but smile just slightly, "he found me." She paused. "He was frantic. I've never seen Inuyasha act that way before."

"And you are sure it was Inuyasha?"

Kagome nodded.

"Yet it wasn't the Inuyasha the rest of us know?"

She shook her head. "No. No, he was much different. Older. He was wearing clothes and talking as if he had been born in my time. Like he knew how to act in the mannerisms of my time." She rested her chin on her hand. "He said that he lived the last five hundred years until he could reach me, and that…" her voice trailed off as she remembered his quivering tone, the way he looked like he was about to cry, his arms around her body as he hugged her to his chest as if she were the thing he cared for most in the world.

"…That we had all died?" Kaede finished her sentence.

Kagome nodded and placed her forehead into her hands, willing herself not to cry. He said he couldn't save any of us. That for some reason, Naraku ruled freely."

Kaede's face became solemn, and she rubbed her chin. "Your story does match up with mine, although I saw that Inuyasha passed along with the rest of us, and Naraku was able to rule freely."

Again, they sat in silence, the only interruption being Shippou, who mumbled once or twice in his sleep and rolled over.

Finally, Kaede spoke again. "Is there anything you are forgetting to tell me?" She asked, just as stuck on what to do as Kagome was.

_Only that he loved me_. "To come back here and warn everyone. He didn't give me much of a choice, he practically shoved me down the well."

"Aye, that would be him."

_Oh, and then he kissed my breath away._ "He said I could get everyone through the well. Is that possible? I know it's never worked for anyone but me and Inuyasha, and once or twice for a demon if they sense some shard power. …Could we get everyone through?"

Slowly, the old woman shook her head. "I do not know, Kagome. I assume it's worth a try, however. When the others decide to rejoin us we should try and carry out the plan this future Inuyasha has laid out for you. I can think of nothing else to do."

"Yeah, I don't know if-"

_BOOM_.

Kagome froze mid-sentence. No. No way. Not _now_.

"What in all the hells-?" Kaede uttered, bringing her hand up to her chest.

Kagome's eyes grew wide. She could feel sweat forming on her hairline. Her fists clenched at her sides, and her breath caught in her throat.

_BOOM._

Naraku was here, and he was coming for them. _Now_.

Her thoughts ran at warp speed. She hadn't thought it would happen so soon. It wasn't quite real a moment ago, but it was all too real now. There was no time to save everyone in the village, like future Inuyasha had asked of her. She was going to fail. There was no way she could possibly get everyone through the well. Not now.

_BOOM._

Now the screaming started, blood-curdling screams that shook Kagome's nerve violently. Kaede was up like a shot, and Kagome wasn't far behind. As the curtain to the hut was thrown back, a bloody scene lay before their eyes.

There were bodies everywhere. Blood. Humans and livestock alike lay strewn about at awkward angles. Homes and huts were crushed flat and lit afire, and those who remained alive ran in a crazed frenzy.

Looming above it all, in his newest, strongest form, was Naraku. He had gown to unimaginable heights, standing at least as tall as a four-story building. The top half was human, while thousands of tentacles withered and whipped around him, destroying everything in their paths.

Kagome stood rooted to the spot in front of Kaede's hut, her body frozen except for her eyes, which searched frantically for any signs of Inuyasha, trying to spot him out in all the destruction. It was like a World-War II movie, and she suddenly felt as if she'd been thrown into the middle of Hiroshima. Tentacles flew in every direction, flattening horse stables and trees, killing everything.

Where was Inuyasha? Her head snapped back and forth, trying to make scene of the horror in front of her.

"By Gods, the _children_!" Kaede shouted from Kagome's left and took off hobbling as fast as she could towards the cluster of huts that were blazing alive, on fire. She grabbed every child in her path, gathering them up as best she could, trying desperately to get them to safety.

Kagome didn't know what to do.

What should she do? Help Sango and Miroku, who were fighting off some of the smaller demons that surrounded Naraku? Help Inuyasha? ….No, bad idea, it's not like she knew where he was, anyway.

Okay, so the kids. She'd help Kaede with the kids. That's what Future Inuyasha had told her to do, anyway. Bring everyone back through the well.

Her mind made up and her nerves steeled, she rushed back into the hut and swiped up her bow and a bundle of arrows that were resting on the far wall, then darted out after Kaede, hearing the crack of the hut she'd just been in crushed to the ground. After diving to what could only be called safety by the Feudal Era standards, she grabbed up the kids as Kaede had done, and pulled them towards the edge of the woods, where the elder priestess stood, tending to the wounded as best she could.

"Kaede!" Kagome shouted over the noise of massive battle in the village clearing. "Do you know how many children there are in the village?"

"We've about thirteen all together!" She shouted back, her voice hoarse.

As quickly as she could, Kagome counted out the kids huddled around the old woman, shaking and sobbing. "…six, seven, eight, nine… Shit! Okay, we're missing four!"

"I passed two that'd been crushed, and saw no more!" She pointed a bony finger to the collapsed houses.

Kagome looked out into the village from their feeble hiding spot. She breathed heavily as she scanned the area, looking for any sign of life. "Argh!" She let out a cry of frustration and stomped her foot against the hard earth. She was just going to have to go get a closer look. "Kaede, listen to me!" She turned and grabbed the old woman's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "I think we can get everyone through the well, we just have to make it there, understand?"

She nodded.

"I'm going back out to look for the last two, and I'll send everyone else to the well. I'll make sure Sango and Miroku and Inuyasha make it as well. Make sure to get everyone through, okay?" She pointed to the tree line. "Stay behind the forest's edge, we don't want Naraku cutting in and grabbing anyone before you get to the well!"

"But the well does not-"

"Kaede, we have to try!" Kagome yelled into her ear, giving her a slight shove for emphasis. "Trust me, okay?! GO!"

With a final, reassuring nod, Kaede gathered the kids around her and made her way slowly towards the path that would lead to the well, making sure to follow Kagome's directions exactly.

Satisfied that they would be okay, at least as long as Naraku's attention was drawn, she crouched down as low as she could and made her way towards the burning piles of wood and hay, which were once dwellings of the villagers. Making her path a wide circle around a battling Sango and Miroku, who were doing fairly well for themselves, she managed to make it to the huts without being noticed. She still didn't know where Inuyasha was, but she had to assume he was doing okay.

"Come and get me, you _coward_!"

Ah. There he was.

She heard his strong voice and turned her attention to the slowly lightening sky, where Inuyasha was busy dodging tentacles and taunting the giant best. He was shouting, looking small and insignificant next to Naraku's monstrous form. Tetsusaiga was drawn, and it almost seemed to glow as he waved it around frantically.

She heard a cough to her far right, and dashed over to some fallen wood, where two kids were trapped, crying, their arms and legs burned badly. "I'm here! It's okay! I'll get you out of here!" She shouted. Their only response was to cry louder, and she quickly grabbed onto the beams and lifted with all her might, freeing the children and shoving the burning material to the side. She grabbed them by their waists and turned, running back to the forest edge as best she could.

Kaede was waiting for her there.

"Did you get them through the well?" Kagome shouted, breathing hard, and handed the two sobbing kids over.

"Nay, they won't go through! I've kept them there with Shippou, though, and we will wait for you to come! They should be safe there!"

Kagome nodded, having no other choice, and watched as Kaede hurried off with the two burnt children. She turned ready to go back into the opening and help out Miroku and Sango, when something moved to her right. She barely caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. A tentacle.

"Kaede! _NO!_" The scream ripped from her throat, knowing in her heart what was about to happen.

It was done in a flash, like most death is. The tentacle pierced right through the old woman's body, and she fell, instantly gone.

Kagome froze, her face draining of color.

He knew. Naraku knew what was happening all around him. Knew what they were trying to do. There was no way out of all this.

Her desperate thought was cut short as Miroku opened his hand at the demons who were now pouring out from under Naraku's body, no end in sight.

It was like a horror movie, how Miroku died. She watched from the line of trees as slowly, the hole in his palm engulfed his hand. How it moved quickly up his arm and onto his shoulder. His screams of pain and terror were sickening, and with one, last yell of despair, he was gone, the bright flash of the whole engulfing his entire body making Kagome cover her eyes. When she looked back, nothing but a giant crater was formed where he had been. He had disappeared into nothingness.

Kagome felt her feet move, and before she knew what was happening, she was by Sango's side, bow-and-arrow drawn, dodging the nasty attacks as they came. "Sango, what happened?" She shouted out to her friend.

"Kagome, he's gone! _He's GONE!_" She was shaking uncontrollably as she swung her boomerang around in rage, lashing out at anything that came within her weapon's range. At the first moment she could, Sango turned her face to the sky and let out a shrill whistle, calling to Kirara.

Kagome knew what she was about to do and reached out to her friend in a panic. "Sango! Calm down! _Wait_!" But she was weak compared to Sango, who shrugged her off without a second look.

Kirara was by her master in a flash, and Sango hopped onto her back and let out a war cry of grief. "I'll _KILL_ you!" She roared, as she rushed at Naraku atop Kirara's back.

Kagome could do nothing as her friend raced to her doom. "No! Sango, _NO!_"

A tentacle, too fast for Kagome's eyes, whipped around and slammed into Kirara's side, wrapping around Sango as her demon companion fell to the earth, dead before it hit the ground.

"_NO! SANGO!_" Kagome cried out, shooting arrow after arrow at Naraku's giant form. They hit their target, but did no good. She wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't even felt them.

She could only watch, transfixed, as the tentacle squeezed, and Sango took her last, dying breath.

No. Not Sango too. All of them were dead. Gone. And it was all happening, just like Future Inuyasha had said it would.

Oh God. Oh God. She was losing it again. A sob swelled up in her throat, and she threw her head back, not at all unlike the movies, and shouted out Inuyasha's name as loud as she could, reaching out to him.

Again, sudden movement to her left.

Then her world went black.

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.o0o0o0o0o.

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Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.

~SugarRos


	3. Chapter 03

From the Future

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Author's Note: So glad you guys are back. Enjoy!

Dedication: This chapter that I broke down had originally been dedicated to reviewer kikyophobia. I'd like to re-dedicate this first chapter to her one more time.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But right now they're mine to manipulate. I'm going to have so much fun.

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Chapter 3

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When Kagome woke again all was quiet, and she was in a very large amount of pain. Her head throbbed, her body throbbed, and her ears were giving off that high-pitched ringing noise that usually accompanied dead silence. She opened her eyes and the early morning sky hung in her vision, dark and bleak and weary, overcast in clouds. It seemed as if the heavens knew that death had happened right under its nose.

It took her a while to realize that she was moving. She felt her feet being dragged over the rocks and dirt on the ground, and heard grunting behind her. Whatever was dragging her had taken a hold of her wrists, and was moving at a very slow rate, pausing after every heave, rasping as if on the verge of death.

Kagome instantly thought it was Naraku dragging her away to kill her; or worse, torture her. But she didn't have the strength to struggle. She couldn't get her arms or legs to move. A wail rose in her throat, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized that this was the end. This is what it all boiled down to. Absolutely nothing but defeat and death. Naraku had won, and now the entire world as she knew it was doomed.

Is this what future Inuyasha had been talking about? If so, why had this time turned out so different? For surely Inuyasha was dead. Otherwise, Naraku wouldn't be dragging her away right now. Otherwise, he'd still be fighting, she knew him well enough.

It took a while for her to realize that Naraku was dragging her down a path that had been walked by her so often she'd memorized it. Of course it looked a bit different now, as she'd never been dragged on her back down the path before, but it was definitely the way to the Bone Eaters Well.

Oh God. Was this how Naraku was going to reach her time? By jumping through the well with her? Was she about to do nothing as destruction and death loomed over her modern friends and family? Was she about to stand by and let this sorry son of a bitch destroy her life as she knew it?

With a sudden outcry of rage, she gathered all of her strength and yanked her arms back. It must have caught him by surprise, because she was able to free herself easily. She started to roll onto her stomach, ready to defend herself to the best of her abilities, ready to fight him until he killed her, ready to-"

"Kagome!"

She froze, her heart pounding in her throat, her pulse jumping from her wrists, and she looked up to see a worried-faced Inuyasha, bruised and beaten and bloody. His right eye was closed and swollen, and his bottom lip was a deathly purple color. But it was Inuyasha. Not Naraku.

"Inuyasha?" She whispered out, relief flooding her body now that she knew that A) Naraku hadn't taken her hostage and was about to kill her, and B) Inuyasha was, indeed, alive.

"Kagome, you're awake! Do you feel any pain? Is anything broken?" He asked, his voice shaking.

She shook her head and raised her hand tentatively to his cheek, feeling him wince under her touch. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, realizing he must be in a lot more pain that she was.

"No, I'm okay, I just…" he sucked in a gasping breath, and from the look on his face Kagome guessed he probably had a few broken ribs. "I'm sorry I was dragging you." He said. "We need to get into the well, and you were like dead weight. I cant-" he seemed ashamed of what he would say next. "I'm too weak to carry you right now. Can you walk?"

She nodded this time, and stood, slowly, her body physically exhausted. Inuyasha wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling her along next to him as they made their way down the path.

Slowly, the well came into view, and as the beaten couple limped into the small clearing. a horrific scene unfolded before them.

Every single child Kaede had brought to the well to try and save were not dead… They were slaughtered. Shredded.

Kagome's eyes widened at the gore, and she opened her mouth and let out a scream, causing Inuyasha to flatten his ears. He quickly slapped his hand over her eyes and tucked her face into his fire rat coat, growling deep in his chest in an effort to calm her down.

"It's okay, just… just don't look." He told her lamely, scrunching his nose and placing his other hand over it to try and cover the smell. It didn't help much.

She knew they would have to walk through the bloody mess to get to the well itself, and was thankful beyond relief that Inuyasha took the reigns and led her through the mess. Of course, there was no way they could avoid stepping on the remains. Kagome felt her stomach churn and bile rose up her throat as she felt the burned, torn flesh of children under her feet. It was a struggle not to throw up.

She screamed again when the next step she took forced a loud cry out from under her foot, and both she and Inuyasha tripped back, Inuyasha pushing her behind him, growling out through his teeth, his fists raised.

Kagome had two quick thoughts, one right after the other. The first was that Inuyasha didn't have his sword anywhere on him, otherwise, he would have pulled it out instead of raising his hands in defense.

Immediately following was that Shippou had just poked his head up from under two severely mangled children.

"_Shippou!_" She cried, feeling the sudden crash of relief and guilt at the same time. He was alive! Oh, thank God he had survived! But how could she have possibly forgotten about him? Where had he been? When Naraku had arrived, she had panicked about Inuyasha and the villagers, while Shippou had slept on in Kaede's hut! How had he gotten out? How had he survived?

"_Kagooomeeee!"_ He squealed back, leaping up at her and wrapping his tiny arms around her neck.

She hugged him back, twice as hard, her eyes closing as she relished in the feel of the little fox-child that she thought of as her own. "Oh, Shippou!" She sobbed. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

He shook his head from the crook of her neck and whimpered a couple of times. "I thought you guys were dead, because M-Miroku and S-S-Sango…." His voice trailed off into loud, crying sobs.

"Oh, Shippou… it's okay, we-"

"I hate to break up the reunion," Inuyasha growled out in a low voice, "but he's coming again. We need to get through the well. Now."

Kagome didn't have time to react to Inuyasha's sudden demand, because suddenly, _he_ was there. His form was smaller than when he'd been destroying the village, but his presence sent chills up Kagome's spine all the same. Shippou whimpered in her arms.

She knew this had to be what Future Inuyasha had been talking about all along. How she had died along with everyone else, and he himself managed to escape… She was saddened by the thought that she was about to die, but what saddened her even worse was the thought that Inuyasha was going to be all alone for another five hundred years.

Naraku chuckled. "Little pitiful children. So young, so naive, so…"

"What the fuck do you want, asshole?!" Inuyasha snapped at him. Kagome saw his hand immediately flick to where his sword should have been, a reflex on his part. She closed her eyes as Inuyasha swore under his breath and raised his fists up, prepared to duke it out the old fashioned way.

"Inuyasha…" Naraku seethed. "You have been a thorn in my side since Kikyou decided to help me out." He grinned. "She always came back to the cave positively reeking of your scent…"

"_Shut the FUCK up!_" Inuyasha roared.

Kagome saw her chance. She'd been inching her way backwards slowly towards the well when her hand landed on something hard and long and wooden. Not daring to move more than necessary, as she might draw attention to herself, she moved her eyes down to see Kaede's set of arrows, along with her trusted bow. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that Kaede must have left the children with it for some sort of protection.

It was sad that the children weren't able to protect themselves as Kaede had originally planned, but little had the old woman known that by that small action, she had given Inuyasha and Kagome a way out. A way to survive.

Kagome whispered to Shippou to hold onto her as tight as he could, and she slowly, slowly raised the bow and placed an arrow in the string. She waited for the perfect moment to make her move, and studied the scene before her eyes, watching the two demons battle it out verbally. Her first thought to make Inuyasha move out of her way was to sit him, but that thought was just as quickly dismissed, as Inuyasha would be stuck to the ground for a few good minuets, and if Kagome missed her target….

She would just have to trust that Inuyasha would obey her command without the help of the beads.

Taking in a deep breath to steady herself, she stood up and screamed out "Inuyasha, duck!"

Only years of traveling around the Feudal Era with Kagome could have made Inuyasha drop as quickly as he did. Kagome pushed all the spirit energy she could into her arrow and let it fly.

Before she could see if she had hit her target, Inuyasha slammed into her chest and wrapped his arms around her, causing them to fly backwards and down into the opening of the well.

Kagome heard Naraku's agonizing scream, and saw the giant tentacle that smashed onto the top of the well. Pieces of sharp wood came flying at them, but time pulled them away before they could be buried.

Everything in Inuyasha's time disappeared, and the loud crash of the destroyed well echoed with them as they passed through time.

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As the silent tears fell down Kagome's cheeks, wetting the rough, tattered, blood-stained material of Inuyasha's fire rat coat, she felt the cool ebb of time pass and come to a stop as she and Inuyasha stood rooted to the bottom of the well, which, surprisingly, was still intact in her time.

His arms were wrapped around her body, hugging her to him as if he were the only thing protecting her in the world. Which he was now, in a way. She breathed deeply into his chest as he hugged her tighter, understanding and feeling her pain himself, she knew.

But all the comforting, understanding hugs in the world wouldn't make it better. While she had changed future Inuyasha's tale of what he'd been through only slightly – as she had managed to survive this time, and they'd come back through the well – the others were all dead. All murdered by someone so evil it shook Kagome to her core.

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that her friends were gone. Dead. The painful way in which both Miroku and Sango had passed on burned into her memory. The image of Miroku literally being consumed by himself into nothingness and his painful, agonizing, tortured cry had struck her soul.

She had honestly believed, in her heart of hearts for years now, that one day their little band of heroes would take down Naraku, and the curse that had haunted Miroku since he had been born would disappear, giving his life freedom again. She honestly believed that Sango and Miroku would live free and die free – together – as happy and content as possible.

How had it all gone so horribly wrong? How had the visions of their futures as happy-go-lucky friends all come to a screeching halt? How was it that they had, instead, ended up dead – before either of them could even truly express the love she knew they had shared for each other?

Sango… She'd been so trustworthy and sincere. Kagome had felt closer to her than any other female friend she'd ever had. Sango had been strong willed, strong bodied, strong hearted, and yet still inexplicably feminine. She'd taught Kagome things no one else could have possibly taught her. And she'd saved Kagome's life on quite a few occasions, as well.

And Miroku… Although his moments of groping had been rather awkward for her and infuriating for Inuyasha and Sango alike, he had been somewhat of an older brother to Kagome. A sort of mentor, as well as a protector. And even though he had never been as… _intense_ as Inuyasha was with watching over Kagome, Miroku had taken it upon himself to watch out for her all the same. He'd saved her life plenty, too.

It saddened her to no end that the two of them would never be able to confess to one another, their true feelings and how deep they ran. She remembered a conversation she and Sango had gotten into one night in a spring while out on a shard hunt. It seemed like such a long time ago, but it was the moment Sango had truly let her feelings go and confessed to Kagome how she really felt.

"_Oh thank God for natural hot springs," Kagome moaned as she massaged a rather stubborn kink in her neck. She eased herself slowly into the warm, steamy water and smiled a smile of relief. "These trips would be a lot less pleasant without them." She glanced over at Sango, who had just finished stripping off her warrior gear._

"_I agree!" She replied, grinning back as she sunk into the water herself. She let a satisfied sigh escape her lips. "But it's got to be rather hard for you, hasn't it? I mean, those stories you tell me about hot water on command any time you want…"_

_Kagome laughed. "I wish I could get you to my time, Sango, I think you'd really love baths and westernized beds and cars…" She sighed. "Trips like these would take much less time if we had a car, too." She laughed much more loudly at the thought that popped into her head, trying to get a car through the well and then driving it around the feudal era._

_Sango sighed shaking her head slightly. "Yeah, well, I wish you could get me over there too! It would give me a break from the pervert."_

"_Aw, come on," Kagome teased, "he's not _that_ bad! You know he fondles you out of love."_

"_Yeah?" She retorted. "So then what does he fondle you out of?"_

"_Amusement."_

"_I'm sorry?"_

_It was Kagome's turn to sigh. "Miroku fondles me when he wants to get a rise out of Inuyasha, that's all."_

_Her friend shrugged. "Well, Inuyasha is rather overprotective of you, Kagome."_

"_I know, and while it's sweet to a point, it can get annoying." She eyed Sango up. "But stop trying to change the subject here! Miroku is different when he's around you." She smiled a wicked little smile. "And you're rather different when you're around him, as well."_

_Sango's face flushed a deep scarlet, and Kagome knew that it probably wasn't due to the hot spring they were immersed in. "Argh!" She threw her hands up into the air and shook her head. "Alright, I'll admit it. That pervert really gets to me!" She looked up at Kagome's smiling face. "I'll admit that I like him, more than just a friend, but I honestly don't think that he's ever going to want anything serious. He likes women too much to just be there for one."_

_Kagome bit her lip and shook her head slightly. "I don't think that's it, Sango. I honestly think that Miroku is just desperate that his family line doesn't run out, with his curse and all." She held up her hand at Sango's retort and smiled a genuine smile at her friend. "He's desperate for it, but he acts differently towards you despite his desperation. Besides, we're getting close to bringing Naraku down to where he belongs, and once Miroku's spell is broken, I'm sure he'll ask you to be his wife."_

_Sango's blush deepened, which Kagome hadn't thought possible, and she sputtered in embarrassment. "K-K-Kagome! I was just saying that I have feelings for him, I have no intention of imagining being together like _that_ any time soon!"_

"_Mmm, but don't deny that you don't think about it occasionally." She retorted coyly. "All girls think about getting married someday. Even me."_

_It was Sango's turn to smirk. "You dream about getting married? To whom?"_

_And it was Kagome's turn to blush. She coughed. "Well, no one in particular, I just dream how the wedding will be and such…." she finished lamely._

"_Uh-hu." Sango added sarcastically. "I don't suppose you see Inuyasha standing next to you at all?"_

_Kagome turned her head away. "Not in the least."_

"_You're so bad at lying Kagome!"_

"_Whatever!" And in desperate need for a conversation change, Kagome splashed Sango, and they continued on in their little splash fight until Miroku 'accidentally' walked in on them._

But now they were both dead.

How could Kagome possibly go on? How could she live while knowing she failed to save two people whom she thought of as her family? As her closest friends? It was a tragedy. Tears kept welling up. Never ending as they splashed from her eyes and down her cheeks.

And then a thought struck her. Shippou. She had managed to rescue Shippou. She remembered the relief of seeing him alive. Alive and well. She squeezed her arms around the little kit that was being hugged between-

….Wait…

Wait, where was he? Kagome's body stiffened, and she pulled back from Inuyasha's grasp to look down at where the little kit should have been snuggled firmly between the two of them.

"Shippou…" Kagome's voice was a whisper as a fresh layer of dread fell over her. She slowly lifted her gaze up to Inuyasha's face, who had just realized the kid was gone along with her, and her mouth fell open. "Inuyasha… where's Shippou?"

Inuyasha opened his mouth as well, but closed it, not knowing what to say.

"No… NO!" Kagome yanked herself away from Inuyasha and flung onto her hands and knees at the bottom of the well, searching the dark corners for him. "Shippou!" She cried out, fresh panic crashing over her in waves of turmoil. She started to dig at the earth, frantic, out of her mind with worry. She had saved him. She had saved him! He had been right with her! She'd felt his warm little body as they'd slipped through time! How had he gotten away?! How could she leave him back there?! "SHIPPOU!

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Never in his life had Inuyasha been in such a situation. He had never seen Kagome lose it. He had never not known what to do. Usually in dangerous situations he killed whoever was causing the danger. He always went to the source. But in this case, the source of the problem had just beaten the crap out of him, killed two, no, three of his closest friends, and had somehow managed to rip away the child of his pack.

The pain he felt as he listened to Kagome scream out Shippou's name at the top of her lungs was so intense he could do nothing but stand there, frozen, unable to get his body to move and comfort Kagome like she needed to be comforted.

…Of course, she wasn't the only one needing comfort.

Inuyasha had never been in such a horrifying battle in all his life. What the hell had made Naraku different this time? What had made him stronger? How was it that he was able to defeat Inuyasha and his friends so easily? How was it he was able to kill Sango and Miroku and Kaede with the slightest of ease?

And now Shippou was gone, too. Shippou, whom Kagome had cared for almost as if she'd birthed the child herself. Shippou, who annoyed Inuyasha so much he wished the kit was able to just disappear.

Now he felt like an asshole for ever having such thoughts. True, Shippou was annoying, but weren't all children? What had the little kit done that had really been so bad? Inuyasha would now give anything, _anything_ for Shippou to gnaw on his ear again, or pin him with those stupid fox talismans of his, or tease him about being _hanyou_.

Inuyasha was so caught up in feeling sorry for himself that he hadn't noticed Kagome climbing the side of the well. He did notice, however, when she stepped up onto the edge and looked down into the dirt at the bottom.

"What are you doing?" He managed to choke out of his throat, looking up into her wet eyes from the bottom of the well.

"I'm going back." She mumbled, hiccupping a few times. "I'm going back to get Shippou."

"Kagome, that's not such a-" He started, only to be cut off by an enraged Kagome.

"We have to get him back!" She yelled, her eyes wide and panicked. "We can't leave him there!"

"Kagome don't be stupid!" He roared up at her, pulling the strength from Gods-knew-where to climb clumsily up over the well himself and grab at her waist, trying to pull her back to safety.

Too late.

She jumped.

"_Kagome!_" He shouted out as he watched her fall into the well….

…and land on her hands and knees, a giant 'ooof!' pushing from her lungs.

Neither spoke, both too shocked to come to terms with the fact that the well hadn't worked as it was supposed to.

"Wh-what the…" Kagome's voice shook as she pushed up off her hands and looked down at her dirt-stained palms. "…I… can't go back?"

A giant waive of relief washed over Inuyasha, and he slumped down onto the edge of the well, feeling horribly pathetic at the moment for not being able to stop her himself. He didn't dwell on his inadequacy, though. The gashes that decorated his body were sending too much pain searing throughout him. "Good." He answered Kagome's somewhat awed question. "You shouldn't go back, Wench. Don't think for a second Naraku will hesitate to kill your ass!"

"But Shippou-!" She cried.

"Fine Kagome!" Inuyasha had to bite his tongue to avoid calling her another name. Kagome was freaking out, and while Inuyasha had to admit to himself that he was freaking out as well, he sure as hell wouldn't admit it to Kagome. He had to keep her calm. A calm Kagome meant a calmer Inuyasha, and Inuyasha needed to be as calm as he could possibly be. He inhaled a deep, quivering, pain-filled breath and hissed the air back out through his fangs. "It's not working right now, it's probably been blocked. I'll go back and try and get him in a few hours."

"A few hours?! Shippou could be _dead_ in a few hours!"

She was right.

"Kagome-"

"No, Inuyasha, he's in terrible danger over there all by himself! We have to get him!"

He was going to lose it. He couldn't think with her shouting like that. "Kagome, it's not working, we can't-"

"Inuyasha, we can't leave him there, we have to-"

She needed to shut up so he could think. "We can't go through, it won't-"

"We have to!" She cried, drowning out his voice as her own overflowed with anguished frenzy. "I can't believe you want to-"

"Kagome! I can barely fucking move much less jump into a well that won't soften the blow with time! What's the point if it won't let me through, anyway?" His breath rushed in and out of his nostrils as he willed his anger back down into his chest. After he could breathe at a relatively normal rate, he spoke down to her again. "Let me heal a bit and I'll figure it out."

Kagome didn't reply. And for a few moments, Inuyasha was sure she would argue with him again.

Keh. Whatever. Let the bitch scream all she wanted to. He was in too much damn pain to care. As long as she was in his eyesight, he knew she was alive, and that was all that mattered this second.

Finally, she turned and started climbing up out of the well again. "Fine, but not without me, Inuyasha." She insisted, stepping up over the edge and placing her forehead against his chest. Her hands fisted into his coat. "I've already lost most of my family over there, and I refuse to lose you _or Shippou _as well."

He shook his head and bit back the wince of pain that threatened to show on his face. "No fuckin' way, Kagome." He did his best to growl. It sounded more like a gurgle. "If I'm going back, it's alone. I'm not risking you again."

She pulled her head back to look up at him, her watery eyes hard as stone, resolution set. "Not without me. What would happen if you just never came back?"

He frowned, opened his mouth, paused, and clutched his fists together. "It might be better that way."

Kagome immediately shook her head. "No, no don't even think like that. You told me that I had to get through the well with you. You told me I had to bring you back!"

His growl sounded genuine this time. "I didn't tell you nothin'! You keep claiming I've said all this crap. I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"It was you!"

"You were duped!"

Her teeth grit together. "No, Inuyasha it was you! You warned me! How else could I have known? How else?"

Ugh. There was no arguing with the woman and they were wasting time. If Inuyasha had any chance of getting to Shippou, it was going to be while Naraku was distracted. He would have to heal enough in a couple of hours to try and scoop Shippou up from the other side. Hopefully the arrow Kagome shot did enough damage to Naraku that he was still recovering.

Not likely, but hopefully.

How could he possibly come back to Kagome and tell her that Shippou had also died? It wasn't something he was looking forward to.

That thought led his brain to acknowledge the fact that he was even more severely wounded than he'd first thought. The adrenaline of the battle and realizing that Shippou was gone had finally left his body, and the hurt now _really _began to seep in. There was a nasty gash right across his upper chest that was sending pain signal after pain signal to his mind, and he winced, slouching slightly and leaning heavily into Kagome.

"I-Inuyasha?" She gasped, trying to pull herself away to get a good look at him and hold him up at the same time. She looked down at the fresh blood smeared across her top, and then back to his chest where he could feel his life liquid literally pumping out of his skin. "Oh Gods!" She cried, just now realizing how serious his wounds were

He tried not to let the thought of Kagome not thinking about his well-being first get to him. He was alive, and he couldn't blame her for worrying about Shippou instead, who could very well be dead now. Besides, if she was worrying about his well-being, she wouldn't be arguing with him about the rescue.

"Inuyasha, your wounds!" She wailed. "Are you okay?"

Ignoring her for now, he thought for a few seconds about Shippou and their situation at hand. Going back at all was dangerous. He didn't want Kagome to go back, mostly because he was worried that Naraku was still next to the well, just waiting for them to become stupid enough to go back through and face him again. It wouldn't take much for the giant demon to kill them this time around.

Kagome had slipped both of them to the ground, having caved under his weight, and was now peeling away at the blood-soaked clothing that clung to Inuyasha's chest, trying to get a better look. He studied her profile. Her hair was messy and her face was smeared with blood and dirt. Her shirt was torn, she had lost a shoe, and her cheeks were bright red and wet from her tears.

She was still so pretty to him. So beautiful. The thought that he still had her to protect and Shippou to save sent a small surge of strength flushing back through his body. Damn if he was putting her in danger again.

That was it. When he was healed enough to make the trip through time she was not going back with him. "Come on, Kagome, leave those alone." He growled out, more from pain than anything. His wounds were still extremely fresh, and he'd be kidding himself if he said they didn't hurt like a bitch as he pushed himself slowly to stand again. He cursed his body mentally when he had to lean against the wooden shrine surrounding the well.

"Wait, don't move without my help!" She cried, jumping up and holding him up as best she could. "We should get you inside."

Inuyasha bit his lip and nodded. Moving hurt a lot. But if he could just sleep for a good couple of hours he'd be healed enough to go on the rescue mission without Kagome.

"Hey." Her eyes slowly moved up to catch his. "I want to go with you."

Damn woman could read his mind. He sneered as best he could. "You'll distract me."

She bit her bottom lip and averted her eyes for only a second. A sign that she was nervous and scared. "What if you don't make it back?"

"Have I ever not made it back?" He growled.

Her eyebrows drew together. "It's been close, a few times."

He snorted. "Close doesn't count for shit."

Kagome paused before she slowly nodded. "You'll bring him back?" Her voice was pleading.

He felt that familiar tug behind his bellybutton, the sort of tug that released all those embarrassing feelings throughout his body. "Keh." He muttered out. How could he be thinking of her in _that _way at a time like this? "Of course I'll bring him back. What do you think I am, anyway? Weak?"

It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to give him a tiny smile. She nodded, and pushed all her strength up under his arm. He raised the corners of his mouth in what he hoped was a comforting smile back. The pain was making it hard for him to think very clearly.

Still, he grabbed onto Kagome's shoulder and let her lead the way to the wooden sliding door of the shrine.

The first thing Inuyasha noticed as she dragged the both of them out into the open was that the sky was not a clear blue, nor was it a saddened gray, like it usually was on Kagome's side of the well.

It was now blood red. Shades and shades of dark red seemed to tumble over each other in the sky.

He was about to bring the abnormality to her attention, but Kagome had already taken notice and pointed a finger up into the sky. "Inuyasha… The sky."

"I know." He mumbled, trying to figure out if he should tell her what red skies normally meant. Of course, he _was_ in Kagome's time now. And while a red sky where he came from was a sure sign that demons were roaming and slaughtering freely, it could mean something completely different in this era.

But he doubted it.

Some twisted feeling in his gut told him Naraku was still definitely on the loose. He had probably lived through the five hundred years with no one in the past to stop him. But how could he say it to Kagome? How would she react? Usually, Inuyasha would be able to tell. He prided himself in knowing her well enough to gauge her reactions to certain situations. But in this case, he had absolutely no idea.

Kagome clicked her tongue in thought as her eyes still searched the sky. "I wonder…" She said, her voice sounding strange. "Maybe a volcano went off?"

He could smell her uncertainty, and turned his head down towards her, catching her red, puffy eyes with his own. "What the hell is a volcano?"

"I-it's a giant mountain that erupts smoke and lava – sorry – liquid fire, kind of. It's extremely rare when it happens, but the sky turning red is one of the signs." Her grip on his haori loosened a bit, and she took a couple of steps across the shrine's sprawling front yard, her eyes glued to the sky. "Although I've never been told the clouds move like that. They seem almost… alive."

Inuyasha nodded, hoping she would think it was a volcano for as long as possible. "Yeah, that happens in my time, too, the ground erupting like that." He said, then noticed that Kagome wasn't by his side anymore, and quickly reached out and grabbed onto her wrist, a shot of panic rushing through him. "Kagome, don't walk away from me." He said, harsher than he meant to. "We don't know what's going on here, but if Naraku really did survive to this time…" He paused, realizing his slip of tongue. Shit.

"Naraku…" Her eyes widened. "You think…?" It was as if a thought just hit her over the head. Her face drained of color again. "Oh God, how could I forget?!" Her voice choked up again, he could smell her panic. "How could I forget what he said to me?"

"What who said to you?"

"I mean what _you_ said to me!" She grabbed a fistful of her own hair and tugged slightly in annoyance. "Of course Naraku would still be here! He was here before. When I died! He was here when you slammed me up against the wall and-"

Inuyasha grabbed onto her arms, cutting her off mid-sentence. He was confused, and Kagome was frightening him all over again, talking like that. "Kagome, you've never died, and I sure as hell never slammed you up against any wall! What the fuck are you saying?" He held his own panic down. What could he possibly do if Kagome's mind got confused? He wouldn't be able to deal with losing another member of his pack.

Fuck it. Losing Kagome would mean he'd lose himself.

Kagome frowned and seemed to struggling over something internally. Finally, she shook her head. "Forget I said anything., I… I'm not thinking too clearly. …If Naraku did manage to survive through all those years, he's going to be much stronger than he was back in your time." She completed, sighing as Inuyasha stepped up beside her.

He inwardly sank into relief as she seemed to calm down a bit. "Just… Kagome, for the sake of me being able to know you're okay, don't leave my side, understand?" He waited for her usual abrupt comeback, and was slightly surprised when she merely nodded.

"I promise." She mumbled, then sighed, wiping at the few stray tears still making their way down her face. "Let's go over to the shrine steps, I want to see if a volcano really did erupt. If it did, we'll be able to see the damage from there."

Inuyasha gave a nod of his head and followed closely behind her as they made their way across the shrine yard. He subconsciously grabbed for his sword, and an uneasy feeling rushed through him again as he berated himself for letting it get lost in the first place…

"_Kagome! NO!" Inuyasha shouted out as he watched the giant tentacle side-swipe her with wide, horror-filled eyes. Her body flew several feet before slamming to the hard earth like a ragdoll. "Fuck!" He cried and turned to run over to her limp form._

_A cold, slimy appendage wrapped around his wrist and held him back as he shouted Kagome's name. It was a few seconds before he felt the burn of Naraku's strength pulling at his arm._

"_BASTARD!" Inuyasha yelled, clawing at the thick tentacle with all his might. His captured fist gripped at his sword. If he lost that, they'd all be dead._

"_Kukuku…" Naraku chuckled in a loud, booming voice. "I'm going to rip you into shreds, _hanyou_." He purred, pulling at Inuyasha's wrist. "But I'll leave you conscious enough to watch as I rape your Miko over and over, as I torture her and cut her and _eat_ her alive." The sadistic pleasure in his voice grew, and the image that slammed into Inuyasha's mind made blood rush to his eyes. "Oh yessss." Naraku continued. "I'll keep you just conscious enough to watch as I torture her slowly, starting with tearing off little pieces of her. Her ear, her finger, her supple, heavy breast…"_

_The grip on Inuyasha's wrist tightened. He could either lose his arm by Naraku ripping it off him or he could let go of his sword and use both hands to wretch himself free._

"…_and I'll keep her nice and awake, too. I want you to hear her screams, Inuyasha. I want you to watch as I eat her flesh and lap at her blood and make her cum as I give her ten times the pain as she'll feel pleasure. She'll scream your name the loudest, I think…"_

_Fuck the sword. He'd come back for it. Kagome was more important, and so was keeping his arm._

_He dropped his sword._

"_FUCKING KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"_

But he hadn't been able to go back for his sword. It was gone. He had the strong feeling Naraku had simply destroyed it.

The bastard.

The only way he'd be able to get it back now is if he tried to search for it when he made his way back to search for Shippou. He felt naked without his sword. Empty. He felt worthless too, not so much for protecting himself, because he could do okay without the sword if it was only himself he had to protect. But that sword was one of his main ways of protecting Kagome. He couldn't count the times that sword had saved her life, as well as the lives of their friends.

_Keh! A lot of fucking good it did me this time around!' _The thought that he wasn't able to protect their friends made him sick to his stomach. He clutched his free hand to his abdomen and came to a halt, bending over, fighting the urge to puke the contents of his stomach up.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Kagome asked, standing over him and placing a comforting hand to his back. "Is it your wounds? Are you hurting bad?"

He grit his teeth together and nodded, not wanting her to know the fear that was consuming him. If he couldn't protect the humans he had come to care for with his sword, how the hell was he going to protect the one he cared for the most without it?

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Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.

~SugarRos


	4. Chapter 04

From the Future

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Author's Note: **PLEASE READ: This chapter is NOT NEW material, it's my previous three chapters spread out into four, so if you're returning to read, I apologize for the lack of new material. Chapter five is being written/edited as you read this. **Bare with me here. I started this story years ago, and it's always been a favorite of mine. However, sometimes stuff happens to keep you from being able to continue on the way you were, and that's exactly want happened to me. I don't know if I got burnt out or what at this point, but I didn't have the will to finish, even though I knew exactly where the story was headed.

But now that I've grown a bit in my writing I would like to take the chance to finish this story up, because I still believe in it just like I did all those years ago. **However, to do this, I must revamp the structure of this story, which means I will be breaking the chapters down and re-uploading them so they're shorter. This is not done to confuse the readers, but to make it easier for me to keep track of and edit as I see fit. This will also help me write and post updates at a much more acceptable rate.**

I hope that those of you who have alerts for this story understand. Stick with me here, I promise you won't be disappointed. :)

Thank you.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But right now they're mine to manipulate. I'm going to have so much fun.

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Chapter 4:

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"You should lay down." Kagome suggested, her hands pulling up under his arms. Jeez, he was heavy. "Let's go inside, and-"

"N-no." Inuyasha muttered out. She watched as he struggled to stand on his own. "No, we need to take a look." He inhaled a deep breath. "It might be a volcano, but I don't think so."

Kagome frowned. She didn't think so, either. But what else could possibly make the sky churn as it was?

She got the answer only seconds later as they slowly reached the top of the shrine steps, and both took in a sharp breath as they took in the destruction laid out for miles.

Fires flared up from buildings and houses, screams echoed through the air, reaching their ears, and loud, primal howls, mixed with sounds of violence and gore seemed to blanket the area.

"Oh God…" Kagome breathed out, her eyes widening as giant _youkai_ rose and fell throughout the valley that lay at the shrine steps. "Look how many… they all…" She choked out. "…My friends… my school… my…"

"He fucking survived."

"My mom. Souta! Grandpa!" Kagome turned on her heels and ran towards her house as fast as she could, ignoring the sharp pain of her one shoeless foot as she trampled over stones and pinecones and needles.

"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha shout behind her, but she didn't care. Her family. What had happened to her family?

Searching the house had come up with nothing. A bowl of cold ramen lay abandoned on the table. The microwave and refrigerator doors were both open, and the TV was on, blinking rapidly with static, the volume turned down low.

Gone. They had left, and in a giant hurry.

Why hadn't they waited for her to return? Had Naraku gotten to them? Had he forced them out? Had he…

Had he killed them?

Kagome sank onto the couch, and didn't acknowledge the fact that she felt Inuyasha move into the room and sink down next to her. "Bitch." He muttered angrily. "You told me you wouldn't leave my sight."

She ignored him. "My family. They're gone."

Inuyasha paused for a few moments before nodding. "I know. I could have told you so."

"You don't smell them anywhere?" She asked, slowly turning her gaze to him.

"Keh. Wench, I can't use my nose very well at the moment, so they could easily be in the close surrounding area, but they aren't in the house, and they aren't in the yard."

She gulped. "Not even-"

"No. No bodies." His voice had softened, and she blushed, realizing that he could read her like a book. The thought was relieving. "No blood. When they left, it wasn't by force."

"So they could still be alive."

Inuyasha didn't answer for a few seconds, and Kagome slowly began to assume the worst.

"Could be." He finally said, slowly.

All she could do was nod. It was true that Inuyasha could read her like a book, but it was also true that she could read him as well, and the tone of his voice told her he doubted very much that her family had survived.

Kagome scrunched her eyebrows together in thought. "Inuyasha, do you think-"

"Shuddap." He interrupted, and she turned to see him sink back into the couch, his good eye slowly closing shut. "gotta sl'ep" He muttered. "Few 'ours an' I'll g' Shipp'o."

Kagome tried her best to smile. "Rest, Inuyasha." She sighed, and stood to grab at the remote, but let out a cry of surprise as Inuyasha grabbed at her wrist.

"Don' go, 'Gome." He uttered, grogginess finally taking over. "Fuk'n leave an' I'll… I'll… know." He finished lamely.

She sat back down and placed a hand on his forehead. "I won't leave you Inuyasha. I promise."

"K…eh." He muttered weakly. "Y' said tha' las' time."

"I promise." She watched as he finally fell into a painful doze, then grabbed up the remote and changed the channel on the TV.

Static.

She changed the channel again.

More static.

The uneasy feeling crept back up into her, and she hurriedly flipped through channel after channel, finally landing on the one station she could find with reception.

The static was still there, but she could make out the faded colors and details of the local news reporter sitting at her desk, her eyes wide and nervous as she kept glancing back and forth between the camera and to whomever was off to the side.

"-of Tokyo, and now all of Asia has been taken over by the _youkai_ calling himself _Naraku_."

Kagome raised the volume of the television, hardly believing her ears.

"Again, he offers a reward of unimaginable power to whoever brings to him the human Higurashi Kagome and the _hanyou_ Inuyasha."

Her mouth dropped open as her yearbook photo and a rather blurry photo of future Inuyasha flashed onto the screen side-by-side.

"They are said to be highly dangerous and on the run, possibly using disguises. They are to be alive when delivered. In international news, all contact oversees has been lost. With the election looming over the heads of the Americans, debates are centered on whether to send troops over to Asia to rage war against _youkai_. President Obama, in his newly re-elected position in the White House, has declared that-"

Kagome didn't hear the rest.

They were wanted. There was a bounty on their heads. Naraku had definitely survived and was on the hunt for them. Had her family seen the news? Is that why they'd fled? She frowned and shook her head, finding it hard to believe that they would have simply run away. There had to have been something else. Some other factor that she wasn't picking up on, wasn't seeing.

Inuyasha mumbled something in his sleep and started to twist and fidget. Kagome reached out and placed her hand against his warm forehead, preying to whatever God that would listen that Inuyasha would heal quickly. She didn't like being alone in her newly-destroyed home world, the last little fugitive on the run from the big, bad youkai.

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Three hours later, Inuyasha woke up to see Kagome's eyes gazing intently into his own. He blinked a few times before he slowly struggled to sit up.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome whispered. It was Night. Pitch black out, but he could make out her face, smell her scent as she leaned over to get a better look at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh. Give me a second." He murmured as he pushed himself up onto his shoulders. The intense pain he'd felt before he passed out onto the couch was now replaced by a dull, ache-y annoyance. The gash that had been pumping out blood was now closed up with a new, thin layer of skin, deep pink in color and tender to the touch.

"Any better?" She asked.

"Much." He replied, and held his hand up to his face. His eye was less swollen now. His vision was still hazy, but at least he could see out of his eye. And it hurt less to blink. "What happened while I was out?"

Kagome bit her lip and wrung her hands in the darkness. "Not much. I keep thinking the sounds are getting closer, but maybe I'm just tuning into them more. Separating them out, you know?" Her tone was anguished. "…And…"

He waited for her to finish. She didn't, and he raised his eyebrow, the one above his battered eye, which shot pain into his head. "And what?" He bit out more harshly than he meant to.

"Well," she bit her bottom lip nervously, "we're on the news."

"The news? Those people on the box that tell everyone what's going on everywhere?"

She nodded.

"Why the fuck are they talking about us?" He growled, and instantly regretted it. His throat muscles ached.

Kagome gulped. "Apparently, Naraku knows we're still alive…. He's put a bounty on our heads."

"…A bounty?"

"Like a price, kind of." She explained. "Anyone that turns us in won't be killed and will be given a place of power or something."

Inuyasha watched as she picked up the small rectangular button box and raised the volume of the bigger TV box. The woman on the screen was talking about Naraku, and his eyes widened as the picture of Kagome and him appeared next to her head.

"Fuck!" He cried out, standing up too fast, and hissing in pain as the new skin tore a little.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome jumped up after him and placed her hands lightly on his chest.

"Kagome, this means we have to leave." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the front door. "Let's see if we can get Shippou."

She nodded behind him, letting him drag her out of the house and towards the wooden shrine. The cold night air nipped and her skin, making goosebumps rise up on her flesh, and making her eyes sting. "Do you think it will let us through?" She asked, her eyes moving up to stare at the sky. It was still a deep red, although darker in the night.

Inuyasha's lose hair caught the wind and fluttered into her face, the usually shiny silver now splotched with blood and grime. She probably looked the same. She wanted a shower.

They reached the shrine in no time, and Inuyasha flung open the door and raced down the steps, pulling Kagome along with him.

For a few seconds, they both stared down into the well, and then Inuyasha turned to look down at her. "Ready?"

Slowly she nodded, drew in a deep breath, and jumped over the side beside him.

They hit dirt hard. Inuyasha let out a sharp cry of pain, and blood seeped out again from his chest.

But Kagome didn't register his open wounds.

Inuyasha had been right. The well wasn't working. Shippou was stuck in the past with a youkai so evil it had destroyed everything Kagome held dear. Her friends. Her family. Both of her homes, in the present and the past.

And now he'd taken the closest thing that had ever been her child.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes filled with tears, and she rushed up over the edge of the well and sprinted back into the house. Flinging open the door she fell into her room and slammed herself inside. The anger welled up in her, boiling and hot and impossible to contain.

She screamed, picked up her desk chair, and hurled it at her mirror. She watched in satisfaction as it broke into a million pieces.

But it wasn't enough. The hurt was still there. The anger still raged within her. It consumed her.

"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha's worried, angry voice out in the yard, and immediately opened her desk drawer, ignoring the bits of glass that bit into her palms and fingers, and pulled out a small stack of while, thin, rectangular bits of paper.

She didn't want to be near him right now. She needed to be alone. To grieve for her family, for her friends, for her child.

Inuyasha couldn't see her like this.

As quick as she could, she wrote the Kanji for 'Shield' on each piece of paper and slapped them up on her bedroom door, just before Inuyasha managed to reach her.

She heard him grab onto the handle and push, and then a sharp, electric shock, and then Inuyasha let the curses fly.

"Fuck! What the hell, bitch?! Open this fucking door RIGHT NOW!"

Good, it had worked. "Leave me alone, Inuyasha!" She yelled at him through the door.

"Fuck that, you stupid wench, you told me you wouldn't leave my sight!"

"I lied!"

"Fucking OBVIOUSLY!" He roared, slamming himself against the door again. It shook, but held still. "Fuck!" He cried, feeling the shock again. "Kagome, what the hell?!"

"Leave me alone!" She sobbed, throwing herself onto her bed and losing herself in her sorrow.

"Oi, I'll fucking get in there, and when I get my hands on you-"

"You'll what? Kill me?!" She retorted, lifting her head up to glare at him through the door. She paused, waiting for his reply. "….Inuyasha?"

She heard him climbing up the tree outside her window, and hurriedly slapped up some more talismans on the glass, just making it as he pounded at the glass with his fist, pulling back again from the spiritual power.

"Fucking bitch, Kagome! Let me in!"

She stuck her tongue out at him in reply and pulled her curtains closed, efficiently closing herself off from him.

What else could she break to make herself feel better?

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Inuyasha waged war against Kagome's window and door for the next hour and a half before finally wearing himself out. His wounds still weren't all the way healed, and he didn't feel like yelling out her name anymore. From the sounds of things being destroyed, he figured she was just blowing off her anger anyway.

Understandable. He'd been known to destroy patches of forest himself when he was angry enough.

So, fine. He huffed and leaned up against the outside of her bedroom door before sliding down onto the floor into a comfortable sitting position. Three minuets. He would give her three minutes in her room to grieve before they had to get the hell out of there. "Understand?!" He exclaimed, rougher than he'd intended to. "Three minutes, wench! Three minutes!"

Three minutes turned into three hours. And three hours turned into three days. Kagome was still locked up in her room, refusing to see him. She wouldn't eat the ramen Inuyasha sloppily cooked for her when he thought she needed to eat unless he went downstairs, and she had threatened to sit him forever if he tried to force his way into her room.

But now he was considering facing such dire consequences.

Inuyasha couldn't remember the last time he slept. He was torn between giving Kagome her space and barging into her room via the hole he could make in her bedroom wall and dragging her ass out to talk to him. A few times he had actually sat by her door, listening to her crying and praying and crying some more. He almost crashed through the wall at one point when he heard her having a one-sided conversation and thought that she'd finally gone off the deep end. But then he sniffed under her door and realized that she was only asleep and having a dream about her family. The word 'mom' was said more than once.

He knew that this, that all of this, was hard for Kagome to deal with. Losing family was tough, Inuyasha understood. He had also lost his family, to both death and fierce sibling rivalry. But he also understood that Kagome's instance was different than his own. Sure, losing his mother had hurt. Had fucked him up mentally big-time as a child. Loosing his father had hurt less, as he'd never spent any time with him at all, and as for Sesshoumaru… well… there _was_ no love there to begin with, so that loss hadn't been a loss at all. The way he viewed it, a relationship with Sesshoumaru of any kind was bad.

Kagome, however, had known and loved her family, for seventeen long, long years. They had gotten along, something that had come as a sort of shock to Inuyasha when he first saw them sitting around the dinner table, chatting away with smiles on their faces… By his time's standards, Kagome should have already been bound to a man with kids, away from her parents. Sango was a rare exception for his time. And by his family standards they should have been killing each other, not making each other laugh.

Kagome had loved and been close to her family, and they had all been ripped out from under her nose. Gone. Completely gone. Probably dead, although Inuyasha wasn't going to be the one to say it first; and if he knew Kagome well – and he did – she wouldn't be saying it at all. She'd be hoping and hoping and hoping until their physical bodies turned up.

Inuyasha stopped his train of thought right then and there. He didn't want to think of what Kagome would do if she stumbled upon her family's bodies. He breathed in a heavy sigh and let it out in a rush. The good thing about not knowing what happened to her family was that he might be able to use it to his advantage. Maybe he could talk her out of her room and tell her they would go search for her family. That way they could be out of the shrine, which he felt wasn't in the least bit safe anymore, and really be on the lookout for Naraku. Take the bastard down.

Inuyasha immediately felt like crap. What a fucking asshole he was, thinking of playing Kagome's mind like that, promising to look for her family, when really looking for Naraku.

But he couldn't help it. He didn't know what to do. What if he let Kagome stay here forever, locked up in her room, waiting for a family that was most likely dead to come walking through the front door? Naraku would surely find them here. Inuyasha knew how to lay low, and he knew the way to do it well was to keep on the move.

They had to leave.

He stood in the well shrine, his ears flicking back towards the house in case something happened, but focused his attention mostly into the well.

It wouldn't work, he knew. But Shippou was still there, and although he didn't show the guilt he felt over losing the Kit like Kagome did, he still felt horribly guilty nonetheless.

With a growl, he hopped over the edge and landed on his feet, crouched down.

The flow of time didn't pass over him.

He looked up to see rotting wood instead of giant trees and green leaves.

Naraku had most likely destroyed the well on the other side.

The clear blue sky of his own time would never shine down on him again. He would never again stand in the pit of the well and look up at the faces of his friends. Of his pack. Of is family. From now on he'd only see that damned rotten wooded roof.

"Fuck."

It was time. He was done waiting. If they stayed any longer, they'd be dead.

He jumped up and over the well and made his way back inside, glancing up at the talismans still stuck against the inside of her bedroom window. Ugh. Bitch.

Whether Kagome wanted to or not, he was taking her the hell away from here. He was going to break her damn door down, talismans or not.

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Cautiously, Inuyasha pressed his ear up against Kagome's bedroom door and listened carefully for any sounds of crying or moving around.

There was nothing but her steady breathing. He could tell she was awake by the quickness in which she drew breath, but knew that she was calm. Slightly curious to find out what she was doing, Inuyasha slowly pushed at the door, opening it just enough to get a good peek inside.

Well, he wouldn't have to break down her door at least. The talismans had been removed.

Kagome sat in her desk chair, staring intently at the pictures that littered the edges of the large, shattered mirror in front of her. She wasn't smiling, nor was she frowning. She wasn't crying in sadness or in joy. She was just sitting, calm, thinking, breathing.

Figuring she would finally allow him entrance into her room, he pushed the door open all the way and took a few steps in.

Her room was positively trashed, and he assumed it had gotten that way when she was going through her anger phase at losing her family. A bit more cautious now, he turned back to Kagome, and cleared his throat.

She didn't move to acknowledge him, but he could tell she was listening. Her eyes never moved from the pictures in front of her.

Again, he cleared his throat, and drew his eyebrows together in thought. "…Kagome…" He started, knowing that what he was about to suggest was the best thing, under the circumstances, to do. He hoped she would agree with him and not put up a fight. "It's not safe for us here."

He waited for a verbal reply but, after what seemed like a few agonizingly slow seconds, got a slow nod back instead.

It was all he needed to forge on. "We need to get away from your house and the surrounding area…" He paused, taking in a deep breath. "We might have to be on the move for a while if Naraku is out for us like they said on the box. We should go into hiding, at least for a little bit."

Kagome nodded again, and drew in a deep, shaky breath. She twisted her head half way so he could see her profile. She wasn't exactly looking at him, but it was the most he'd gotten from her since they had come back to her time. "You really don't think its safe here?" Her voice was quiet, only slightly louder than a whisper.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Your family isn't here. I don't know if they abandoned the place or if… if…" At Kagome's shuddering groan of pain, Inuyasha didn't finish his sentence, knowing that the thought of Naraku coming in and dragging her family away was something she would not be able to stand. He drew in a deep breath and kept going. He knew deep down that leaving was urgent for them. He had to make sure she knew it too.

"This is how I see it," he said. "Naraku has been living for these five hundred years. If he's still this focused on finding the two of us, it means he's been sure to look up where you live in this time. If he hasn't already found this place, he'll find it soon. We don't know what he's capable of now and we don't know what he can do. We need to leave."

Kagome didn't move for a while again, and Inuyasha stood stock-still listening to her breathing. Finally after what seemed like forever, Kagome slowly stood and turned to face him.

"You're saying we should leave here." She stated, as if confirming his words. "For how long?"

Inuyasha didn't want to answer. He knew she wouldn't like his reply, so he crossed his arms and avoided her eyes.

"For good?" Her voice rose, filled with emotion.

"Not for good," he interjected, more defensively than he meant to. "Just until we can find Naraku and take him down!"

She folded her arms to match his and puffed out her chest as best she could. "And what makes you think we can take him down now? We couldn't do it back in your time, so how do you figure we can get him this time around? If he _has_ lived all these years, then he probably has a technology advantage that we don't!"

"Keh, you live in this time too, Kagome! You know all about the technical things that I don't!"

"No, Inuyasha, I know about cars and computers and microwaves! But there's technology out there that I'm just not smart enough to know about! Cars and microwaves are just the beginning! You can't understand the possibilities of technology in today's world, you just can't! _I_ don't even know all the possibilities, and I grew up here!"

This wasn't going his way. Kagome was panicking again, and Inuyasha wouldn't be able to stand another three days in the house, feeling horribly exposed and uneasy. Their lives had been verbally threatened, and although he liked humans well enough, he knew that most would undoubtedly be on the lookout for him and Kagome to save their own sorry asses. They were in more danger than just being hunted by Naraku. Being around anyone _period_ would put them in immediate danger.

Kagome was about to become very lonely. Inuyasha wasn't going to let her be in more peril than she already was, including surrounding herself with humans he didn't know.

This would cause a problem if they ran into any of her friends from her time. Where Inuyasha had grown to trust the friends he had in his time since Kagome appeared, they had earned that trust in various battles and life-and-death situations. _'More death than life this time around.'_ He thought bitterly. But Kagome's friends in her time… well, he was sure she could trust them with her ridiculous homework, but humans changed when their lives were on the line. They did things they wouldn't normally do.

Inuyasha made a mental note not to let his guard down, even around the people Kagome trusted. It would be the only way he could really protect her without his sword. The only advantage they had, really. That and Naraku not knowing their whereabouts.

He didn't know how long that would last, though.

He grunted at Kagome's words, calming down bit by bit, controlling his anger so that he wouldn't upset her more than she already was. He could yell at her all he wanted to once they were in a place Inuyasha was sure Naraku wouldn't be able to reach them. Then he would tell her that she was being ridiculous.

For now he just had to get her away.

Slowly, Inuyasha stepped up in front of Kagome, whose arms were still crossed defiantly in front of her chest. Slower still, he took her wrists in his hands and forced her arms away, bending at the knees slightly so he was eye level to her. "Kagome. I know what we've just been through is horrible. I'm feeling your pain also. But you are still alive, and I am still alive, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to keep it that way."

Her eyes were watering again.

"Naraku will find us here, and he will kill us. I don't have my sword. I don't have that protection for you anymore, I just have me." His eyes refused to leave hers. "We need to stay out of reach from Naraku as long as possible until we figure out how to beat him."

"Beat him?" Her voice wavered.

Inuyasha's glare hardened. "We're going to make that bastard pay for what he's done. We weren't able to save my time, but we're going to salvage yours. Are you going to help me?"

"I'll help you."

"Pack only what you need to survive, Kagome. We need to leave. I'll be able to come up with some sort of plan once I'm sure we're out of immediate danger."

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Kagome chewed at her bottom lip as she gazed nervously into the thickness of the dark forest that lay behind the shrine she'd always known to be home. This was it. Once she and Inuyasha stepped foot into the edge of the woods there would be no coming back. They would embark on the longest, most dangerous journey either of them had ever been on.

It was strange to have such a journey happen in her time. Most struggles the two of them had faced had been in the past, and Kagome was always able to go home and enjoy a safe place after all was said and done. But this time around, Kagome's safe place was the place that _wasn't_ safe. And in turn, she had no safe place to go to anymore. The entire world was on the hunt for both Kagome and Inuyasha. There was no place to run. No place to hide. She had never felt more vulnerable in her entire life.

Warmth covered her left hand, and she looked down to see Inuyasha's fingers tangling with her own. She looked up into his face, searching for some sort of comfort, some sort of grounded rock that would keep her in line and focused.

Inuyasha didn't smile. He didn't frown. He nodded his head once and flicked his ears as his eyes bore into her. "I'll make it okay again for you." He said gruffly.

And that was all it took. Kagome didn't need a safe place to go back to. Inuyasha _was_ her safe place. And for the first time since future Inuyasha had forced her into the ally and kissed her senseless, she finally felt the tiniest bit at ease.

Who knew where they would end up? She just knew that she had to survive, and that Inuyasha would lend her the strength to do so.

Slowly, their hands entwined, Inuyasha led the way into the forest.

And Kagome didn't turn back to get one last look at what had been her home since birth.

Everything had changed now.

Now she was following her new home.

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.o0o0o0o0o.

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Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.

The fifth chapter is in the process of writing/editing. Look for it soon!

~SugarRos


	5. Chapter 05

From the Future

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Author's Note: And here is where I introduce some original characters, which I haven't yet done in any of my Inuyasha fanfiction. All I can ask is that you read with an open mind. I can promise these characters add depth to the story. I hope you enjoy.

This chapter was so strange to write because I've been so disconnected from it for such a long time. I kept starting it and then deciding that I needed to fit more and more scenes into the beginning of this chapter. So it was weird, cause the last scene of this chapter was originally my first scene, haha. But I think it turned out pretty well.

I would also like to apologize if the tone is a bit different. My writing style has changed over the years, so there might be minuet changes in the feel of this chapter. But I'll be doing my best to bring you the same amount of detail that you've read up until now.

This chapter was written to Home Sweet Home from the Beyond Good and Evil Soundtrack.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Co. do not belong to me. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But right now they're mine to manipulate. I'm going to have so much fun. However, all original characters belong to me.

I normally don't do warnings inside my chapters, but it gets a little gruesome here…

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Chapter 5

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"_Kagome… Kagome…"_

_Kagome's eyes snapped open. She was warm. Too warm. She must have rolled over a few times in her sleep, because she was closer to the fire than she'd been when she had dozed off. It crackled and sizzled, sending floating sparks and feather-light burning embers up into the night sky, falling down as snowy ash._

_Kagome struggled to untangle herself from her sleeping bag, the bottom half twisted around her legs, pinning them together. Once free of the modern sleeping contraption she stood slowly, stretching her arms above her head._

_It was pitch black around the ring of light the fire cast over the rag-tag group of travelers. Kagome's eyes traveled over Miroku's hunched form, back pressed up against the trunk of a large tree, staff resting safely in his folded arms. Sango was curled up next to a transformed Kirara, the cat youkai a far better source of warmth than the fire._

_Kagome wasn't sure what had woken her up, but she hadn't been sleepy when her eyes opened, and she felt the remains of adrenaline rushing through her veins. Maybe she'd had a dream? A nightmare? Whatever it was, she was awake now, and she had to pee._

_Slowly, quietly, trying her best not to wake her companions, she moved to the tree behind her and looked far up into the branches. "Inuyasha?" She whispered, knowing he would hear. "Inuyasha?"_

_He didn't reply._

"_Inuyasha, I have to pee!" She said a bit louder. When no reply came, she sighed. He must be sleeping deeper than usual. She could see his fire rat coat through the leaves. He wasn't moving._

"_Inuyasha, I'm just going to pee, don't freak out, okay?" She called up once more, just to make sure he was actually asleep. When he didn't answer she shrugged and stepped out of the firelight and into the darkness of the forest._

_It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust before she followed a path she'd taken earlier to do her business. It wasn't very far from camp, maybe twenty feet or so. Finding a good bush to relieve herself behind, she squatted down and let out a sigh of satisfaction, thanking whatever had woken her. Her bladder had been about to burst._

_Finishing up, Kagome stood and made her way carefully back to camp, trying her best to avoid tripping over any stray roots or branches. She could almost feel the warmth of the fire when she heard it._

"_Kagome… Kagome…"_

_She froze. Her heartbeat accelerated and adrenalin shot through her. She strained her ears, listening. She could have sworn she heard her name…_

"_Kagome… Kagome…"_

_There it was again! She spun around, eyes peering out into the thick darkness, trying to see farther than her normal human vision was capable of. It sounded familiar, that voice, and yet so haunting. It sent chills up her spine._

"_Kagome.."_

_She jumped, startled at how close the voice had come. Whoever… _whatever_ it was had to be right outside her line of vision. She stepped back, unsure and suddenly frightened. Though she was sure she knew the voice, she was also just as sure that whatever it was wasn't good._

_He materialized in front of her then, his small, chubby form stepping out of the blackness of the night._

"_Kagome… Mother…"_

_Kagome's eyes widened. She took another step back. "Shippou?" She cried, shaking her head. It was the little kitsune child, but it couldn't be! He was back with-_

…_No, she hadn't seen him at camp. Now that she thought about it, he hadn't been wrapped up in her sleeping bag with her. How had she missed his absence?_

"_Mother… Mother…" He said, stepping towards her. She saw his face then, through the murky darkness. Saw the gaping holes where his eyes should have been, saw the half-scalped skull of his head, the torn flesh and hair flapping gently in the breeze that rustled the bushes around them. His face was sunken in, hollow, like he was starved, and his clothes were torn and bloody._

"_Shippou!" She screamed, horrified at his appearance. Suddenly sick, she fought the urge to vomit as her panic forced her to step away from the abomination. It wasn't Shippou, it couldn't be him! It was a trap. A trick of Naraku._

"_Mother…" He moaned, reaching a hand out towards her, the tips of his fingers torn, flesh and fingernail hanging from his bones. "Mother…"_

_Screaming, Kagome turned and ran, faster than she'd ever run before. "Inuyasha!" She shrieked, "Inuyasha!" In seconds she'd broken free of the darkness and burst into the light of the fire, stopping at the base of Inuyasha's tree and pounding her fists against the rough bark. "Inuyasha! Inuyasha!"_

"_Mother… Kagome… Mother…"_

_Her cries of terror fell on deaf ears. She desperately tried to climb the massive trunk, but the closest branches were too high and base was too wide to wrap her arms around. "Inuyasha!" She screamed._

_The first drop hit her on her forehead, a bit to the right. She felt it slide down the side of her temple and into her hair. Reaching a shaking hand up, she pressed her fingers to the liquid, pulled away, and stared in horror at the sticky red blood that coated the tips._

_Another drop fell. Then another one, and another. Kagome backed away from the tree, her mind reeling as Inuyasha's blood ran down the trunk in rivulets. His blood was on her. Covering her hands._

"_Kagome… Mother…"_

_Kagome backed away from the edge of the forest as Shippou stepped into the light. She had to look away, she couldn't see him like this. Whipping her head around to wake Miroku, she opened her mouth to scream his name, but she choked on the word. Miroku was still against the tree, but his eyes were wide and distorted, and his mouth was open in a silent scream. His arm was raised away from him, and his wind tunnel was slowly devouring him. The wind whipped around him, tugging his robes and his hair wildly around his body. Blood spurted from the edge of the tunnel, ripping him apart before swallowing him whole._

_But Kagome couldn't feel any wind. There was no wind, so how was it taking him? She turned to Sango, desperate to save one of them – just one! But Sango's broken body lay half-chewed inside Kirara's mouth, the cat youkai crunching at her bones, her blood dripping from her chin. It was impossible though. Impossible! Because Kirara herself was torn in half, her entrails ripped open, her guts spilling out. Her blood red eyes bore into Kagome, looking straight through into her soul._

"_Mother…"_

_Shippou was on her then, pulling her to the ground. Kagome screamed. She whipped her arms around in a panicked frenzy, desperate to get the dead Shippou off of her. She tripped and fell over her own feet, crashing into dirt and leaves. Her breath was forced out of her and she tried to inhale, to gain some control, but Shippou was slowly climbing up her body now, his dead hands gripping her clothing, his rancid breath fanning over her face. She couldn't look away from his empty eye sockets. It wasn't possible, but he could _see_ her. He could _see_ her!_

"_Mother…" He moaned. "How could you let him take me? How could you leave me behind?"_

_Kagome opened her mouth._

_She screamed._

_And screamed._

_And screamed._

"Goddammit, Kagome, wake the fuck up!"

Kagome's eyes snapped open. She was screaming and she couldn't stop. Her face was wet – drenched with tears. She was sobbing uncontrollably through her screams, and she lashed out at Inuyasha, jerking her body away from him, still half-caught up in her dream.

"Fuck! Kagome, hold still!" Inuyasha demanded, grabbing onto her wrists in an attempt to keep her from scratching him.

Kagome could feel her throat closing up. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest, like a jackhammer. She couldn't catch her breath through her sobbing; her lungs were on fire.

"Kagome, what's wrong? What's wrong?" She could hear the strain in Inuyasha's voice – the worry – but she couldn't respond to him. She was going to die. The nightmare was going to eat her alive.

"Fuck!" He shouted, releasing her wrists and gripping the sides of her face instead. He pulled her close to him, so her nose barely touched his, so his golden eyes filled her vision. "Kagome, look at me. _Look at me_." He said.

She could feel her heart squeezing up, there was pressure against her chest, like Shippou was still on her, his dead, hollow eyes still gaping at her. She struggled against Inuyasha's grip, but he was too strong for her. She couldn't move.

"Kagome, it was just a dream. A nightmare. It's okay, I'm here."

Shaking, Kagome inhaled deeply, relieved at her ability to breathe again. She sucked in a lungful of air and continued to sob, the pressure on her chest still present.

"I'm here." He repeated. "It was just a nightmare. Kagome, I'm here."

_I'm here_, he was telling her. Kagome sucked in another deep breath, the pain in her chest a little less. Inuyasha was alive. He was here with her. She focused on that thought, and on his eyes. Her shaking hands came up to grip his wrists, proving that he was really there with her. She took another breath. Another.

"I-Inuyasha. You're alive." She said between sobs, relieved that it was true. There had been so much blood, running down the tree, dripping into her hair. But he was alive. "You're alive." She said again. "You're alive."

"Of course I'm alive, I'm not that fucking easy to kill."

"You're alive." Kagome said one more time, the tears still spilling over her lashes, wetting his rough hands. She reached out and gripped his fire rat coat in her hands, pulling him closer to her. He took the hint and brought her head to his chest, wrapping her in his arms like a cocoon.

"Shhh, Kagome, it's okay."

"Y-you died." She wailed into his coat, pressing herself to him as much as she could. She wanted to touch every part of him, to make sure he wasn't wounded or bleeding. "You died like Sango and Miroku and… and Shippou!"

"Hey," He growled, and the rumbling in his chest was instantly comforting. "Don't you dare say that, we're not… We're not sure about Shippou yet. That little bugger is still alive. He's resilient."

Kagome hiccupped through her tears. "I just… there was so much blood. And you… you…"

"Just forget about it, Kagome." He said squeezing her tight to him. "It wasn't real. It was a nightmare."

"Don't leave me," she cried. "Promise you won't leave me. I can't be alone, I can't do this alone, I just-"

"Hey, have I ever left you before? Eh?"

"N-no."

"I'm not leaving you anywhere, okay?" He growled. "I'm here."

The rumbling in her chest calmed her a bit more. It was so comforting. She pressed her cheek against his chest and felt the vibrations move through her. "Do it again." She said.

"Do what again?"

"Where your chest rumbles. Do it again?" She peeked up at him through her wet eyes, begging him. He frowned but nodded, and Kagome was pleasantly surprised that he could make the rumbling happen without actually growling.

"Like that?" He asked.

"Yes. Like that." She hiccupped.

They sat there like that for what seemed like hours, Inuyasha rocking and rumbling his chest, his body a force field against her nightmares. Finally he gathered her up into his arms and jumped up into the branches of the tree. When Kagome looked up at him with quizzical eyes, he shrugged. "We'll sleep like this from now on. I don't like you down there by yourself anyway. Just relax." He said. "Try to get some sleep."

She shuddered at the thought. "I don't want to sleep."

Frowning, he pulled her head back to his chest. "So tell me about this nightmare then. What happened?"

Kagome recounted the horrible details of her dream, the way his blood splattered on her, the way Miroku's wind tunnel sucked him in, the way Kirara gnawed at Sango's body. The whole while Inuyasha grunted in response, and kept the rumbling in his chest going, lulling her to comfort.

Finally done, exhausted and spent, Kagome let her body relax into him. "Sorry," she mumbled into his chest, "that I woke you up."

He tucked her head under his chin and sighed into her hair. "Keh. I was awake. If you ever dream of me dying again, just remember – it's not real. No fuckin' way will I die so easily" He said.

Slowly, to the deep, vibrating sounds of Inuyasha, Kagome let her eyes flutter close. The nightmare had been a new, vividly detailed one emerging from all the murky, jumbled ones she'd had back in her room before she and Inuyasha had left and journeyed into the forest. Perhaps her dream had become more realistic because they were back in the forest again, traveling like they had so often in the past. Only this time there was no warming fire - Inuyasha was concerned about attracting attention - and their once-comforting group of companions were now down to two. This was their first night out in the woods again, and it scared her to death.

She shivered, pressing herself closer to Inuyasha, letting the vibrations in his chest calm her worried thoughts.

She hadn't felt herself fall back asleep, but her dreams this time were void and empty.

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Sofia tried really hard not to glance out the window. It was sunny and beautiful out, not a cloud in the sky. She wished for the hundredth time that she had a job that let her outside on sunny days like today. She loved sunny days. And although New Jersey was known for its hot, humid summers, there were a few days in the season that were 78 degrees and perfect. She wanted to be outside today more than anything.

Instead she was stuck inside. Her platinum blond, shoulder-length hair was tucked behind her ears, her bangs swept to the side, her belt folded across the back of her neck, her shirt un-tucked from her pants. There was a two-hour break between classes, and she was currently giving a private lesson, which is why she had to remind herself every so often to stay focused on the twelve-year-old beginner student in front of her, and not on the perfect weather calling to her.

"Okay Josh, pick your knee up," she said. "Higher. Higher. Now I want you to pull your toes back – _not your ankle, your toes!_ – and extend your leg all the way out and then back to that position."

She watched patiently as Josh tried his best to follow her instructions. She bit the inside of her cheek as he wobbled around on his unbalanced left leg, dropping his right foot back to the ground without bending his knee again. She bit back a sigh, knowing it would take more effort to get him to do anything correctly. Some kids were just uncoordinated. Scratch that – _most_ kids were uncoordinated.

"Okay, let's try this again," she smiled, letting Josh know his elementary mistake was no big deal. "This time, after you kick I want you to bend your knee again and _hold it there_. It's called a re-chamber. Can you say re-chamber?"

He nodded.

"Let me hear you say it."

"Re-chamber."

"Good, now let's do it again, this time when you pick your knee up, I want you to-"

"Hey Sensei S-s-sofia, come ch-check this out."

Sofia turned around to glare at Steven, his stutter so familiar it barely registered to her anymore. He was leaning over the entrance to the mat, his eyes wide, his face pale. Although he looked a little sick, it didn't stop her from wanting to strangle him.

"Sensei Steven, I'm with a student. Can this wait?" She narrowed her eyes, giving him her best I'm-higher-on-the-totem-pole-than-you-are-and-I-will-fire-you look.

He hesitated for a split second, but shook his head. "You sh-should really see this."

Sighing, Sofia turned back to smile at Josh. "I want you to do it again. Remember, it's chamber, kick, _re-chamber_, then down, okay?"

He nodded, a determined look planted on his face. Sighing one more time, Sofia stalked off the mat, barely remembering to bow as a sign of respect when crossing the threshold. She followed Steven behind the counter, where her two other co-workers had gathered around the computer

"What is it?" She snapped. "Make it quick."

Dom looked up from the screen, waving her over. "You'll never believe this, check it out." He clicked replay on the youtube video, and a shaky hand-held camera captured the recent earthquake that had hit Japan earlier that morning.

"You pulled me out of a lesson to show me this?" Sofia scoffed, folding her arms across her chest to show her displeasure. "It's an earthquake, they were playing it on the news this morning, I've seen it already."

Dom shook his head. "You haven't seen _this_ yet." He insisted, pointing to the screen, where a giant tentacle rose from the destruction and rubble, high up in the air until it came crashing back down, the three-story building in its way crumbling like sand.

The man behind the camera screamed and panicked, babbling in Japanese as he turned and ran in the opposite direction, the camera swinging back and forth, forgotten in lieu of his fear.

Sofia's mouth dropped open. "What the _hell_ was that?" She cried, shoving by Steven and leaning in to get a better look. "Play it again!"

Dom jumped to follow her orders. "Can you make out what the guy is saying?"

"If I listen to it again I can," she replied. Sofia had spent the last six years studying Japanese Language and Translation, and was set to graduate from college in the next few months. She had been to Japan many times before, immersing herself in the culture and language. She had an interview all lined up with a publication company in Tokyo, and had been devastated earlier that morning to hear about the earthquake.

She had gone to work rather upset, but being head instructor at a busy children's martial arts studio was nothing if not distracting, and she hadn't had the chance to check in and get any updates on the condition of Tokyo after the quake.

This video was shocking though, even the second time through. Although it looked real enough, it was most likely fake, because she knew for a fact that giant tentacles were not destroying Tokyo city, but that didn't stop her from playing it again. There had been a lot of screaming going on in the video, but she was sure she'd be able to get the gist of what the man was saying if she listened close enough.

Again, the man behind the camera screamed. Sofia closed her eyes and listened to the words.

"He's saying: 'What the fuck, what the fuck… run. …It's coming, run.' …Then I can't understand, but… Oh, he's saying 'monster, monster!'

"M-m-monster?" Steven asked from behind her. "What's he m-mean, monster?"

Sofia ignored him and waved Dom up from his seat, plopping down in front of the computer herself and taking control of the mouse. "Have you guys checked the news recently?" She asked as she typed CNN into the search bar.

"No, but they're probably just showing the same quake video over and over."

"Let's check it out. The video is probably a fake, which is a pretty damn insensitive thing to do." When the website popped up, Sofia froze. She barely registered the gasps from Dom and Steven behind her. Slowly she scrolled down through the links to articles and videos entitled 'Demons Exist!' and 'The Devil Roams Among Us!' and 'Japan Falls Into Hell.'

"What the…" Steven started in disbelief.

Dom leaned over her shoulder, his weight resting on the back of her chair. "Demons…" he read aloud, "what do they mean, 'demons'…?"

"Uh," Sofia muttered, more confused than she'd even been in her life, her new student forgotten. "This can't be real." She clicked on a gallery and a stream of photos popped up, grainy, blurry photos of monsters destroying the city. She shook her head, speechless.

"Is there a link to a live feed?" Dom asked.

"Yeah, here." Sofia clicked on the link and they waited in silence as the video buffered.

"-still streaming in, hundreds and hundreds of tweets and facebook posts, videos and photos of the unbelievable destruction that has consumed the nation of Japan," the newscaster sat behind her desk, her face pale and worried. "While the rest of the world is struggling to come to terms that demons are walking among us.

"That's right Susan, and I just want to confirm with our viewers that are tuning in just now that this is _not_ a joke or a prank, these home videos coming from Japan are _real_, they have been authenticated. President Obama has given the order for the first wave of troops to be sent in to hopefully gain some control over the situation there, and will be joined by forces from the United Kingdom, Russia, China, India, Turkey, South Korea, France, Israel, Germany, Taiwan, Italy, Poland, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Spain. And that is simply the first wave of troops, from all these nations rushing in to hopefully contain a situation that has a real possibility of spilling over into other countries."

"And here in America, we are seeing the first reactions from cult organizations claiming that it's the end of the world. We are told to prepare for mass suicides and looting as word of these demons spread. Authorities are urging people to stay calm and continue on with their daily routine, as it is still too early to know the specifics of what is going on."

"Man," Steven breathed, eyes wide. "It's a good th-th-thing you got back from your last trip a few m-months back. Can you im-imagine being stuck there through all this?"

Sofia didn't reply. She was too focused on the video playing. Creatures, animalistic monsters with red eyes and sharp fangs, moving impossibly fast across the screen held her captive. This was crazy. It was insane. It was-

She was brought out of her trance by the shrill ring of the phone, and she reached out to pick it up, her professional phone voice taking over automatically.

"American Karate Studios, this is Sofia speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey, it's me." Her boss's familiar baritone voice drifted through the earpiece.

"What's up, Sensei?" She asked, trying to ignore the screaming Japanese citizens playing over the speakers. She reached out to turn the volume down.

"Have you seen the news?"

"Yeah, the guys just showed me now."

"Crazy, right?"

"Crazy is an understatement."

"Listen, I want you to give a little talk at the beginning of the afternoon classes, okay? Some of the kids might be scared if they've heard about what's going on at school. Can you get something together? Maybe talk about staying calm in these situations, being aware of their surroundings, staying away from strangers, that sort of thing?"

Sofia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Leave it to her boss to come up with every excuse under the sun to give a speech about one life lesson or another to the kids. He did have a point though. If some of them caught wind of what was happening, they might be terrified.

"You think classes will be packed this afternoon, or do you think the parents will be keeping the kids home?" She asked, hoping she'd get to leave early and watch the news at home herself.

"Who knows? It's not like this has happened before. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Uh-huh, got it." Sofia glanced up from the phone to see Josh out on the mat. He must have grown tired of waiting, because he was doing some improvisational karate moves of his own. She signaled Steven to take the lesson over for her. He nodded and headed out onto the mat to try and reign the little guy back in.

"Okay, I'll be in later tonight. Everything else going good?"

"Yeah, we've got it covered here, see you later." She hung up and moved her attention back to the computer.

"American citizens will be the first priority of the troops going in, with emergency flights chartered to fly them out as soon as possible. It's still uncertain what will be done with the one-hundred-and-twenty-eight-million people that make up Japan's population."

Sofia shook her head.

The world had changed right before her very eyes.

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"Kagome, watch out!" Inuyasha cried, running towards her as fast as his feet would carry him. This was the fourth damn time they'd been attacked since they packed up and left Kagome's home, and he was fucking getting sick of it. These attacks were different than the ones that happened frequently on the other side of the well, because these attacks were personal. These demons weren't after the few little shards around Kagome's neck, they were bent on taking the both of them alive and bringing them to Naraku.

But hell would freeze over before Inuyasha would let that bastard capture them alive. Hell would freeze over before he let that bastard have Kagome.

Inuyasha's legs screamed in protest as he pushed himself to run faster than he'd ever run before. The snake youkai had wrapped its gross, scaly body around Kagome, and was squeezing hard. He saw her struggle, saw the panic in her eyes as the youkai reared back to strike her with its giant fangs, probably to inject her with some sort of paralysis poison.

A shout of rage tore from Inuyasha's throat as he pushed at the ground hard with his feet and flung himself at the youkai, claws outstretched and reaching for the soft underbelly. He ripped it open easily and felt the sticky ooze that was blood and flesh and muscle and organs as he landed on the other side of the creature.

The youkai screamed in agony before turning his flexible head towards Inuyasha, eyes blood red, venom dripping with unleashed poison. Kagome opened her mouth only to emit a strange gargling sound, and her eyes started to roll to the back of her head.

"Stay with me Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted over the hissing sound the youkai was expelling.

Quick as lightning the youkai struck, fangs digging into the soft earth as Inuyasha darted out of the way. He shot around the body of the youkai, trying again to rip Kagome free by tearing into his enemy. The youkai's hard-as-diamond scales kept him from making a scratch. He couldn't get to her.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed as the youkai struck again. He hopped to the side, avoiding a nasty bite by centimeters. His hands reached for his sword again, cursing when his fingers closed over nothing. He kept forgetting that he didn't have it anymore. He had to think of something quick, otherwise either Kagome would die or he would turn full youkai himself.

Again, the snake youkai's eyes turned towards him. The eyes! That's where he would strike next. This time when the fangs came at him, he held his ground, then shot towards the oncoming attack. He tucked his elbows back, hands hidden in the sleeves of his haori. The youkai reared back slightly, somewhat confused as to what he was doing. That hesitation was all Inuyasha needed. He landed on the flat of the youkai's nose, the pads of his feet scrambling for grip against the scales. Somehow he kept his balance, his arms shooting out from their hiding place and tearing through the cornea of one blood-red eye. His ears flattened against the agonizing shriek that assaulted his hearing and he leapt back, blood and eye guts spraying from the withering creature.

Now was his chance. The youkai had forgotten about Kagome in the midst of its pain and had loosened its tight grip. Inuyasha watched as she slipped down into the coils of its body. Cursing, he jumped on top, reached down, grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her free of the monster. He pulled her against his chest before jumping back again and up into the closest tree. The youkai continued its shrieking, it's whole body withering and jerking around in agony.

"Kagome," Inuyasha whispered, not wanting to give their current position away if he didn't have to. He needed to finish the youkai off, but Kagome had to be conscious and aware before he could think of leaving her on her own for even a few seconds. "Kagome, you okay?"

His insistent shaking roused her and she blinked up at him, bewildered. "What happened?" She asked, a shaky hand coming up to rub at her forehead.

"You alright? You coherent?" He asked,

Nodding her head she brushed his hands away. "Stop shaking me, I'm fine. The youkai…" her words trailed off as her eyes finally settled on the thrashing monster snake.

"Stay here, I'll finish him off. Don't make a sound. I don't want him knowing where you are. But shout if you need me."

With a sharp nod of confirmation from Kagome, Inuyasha leapt back down onto the ground, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. Without Kagome's life in danger, this would be easy.

"Oi, fucker!" Inuyasha yelled, and one crimson eye turned, pinning him down with a gaze that promised revenge.

"Hanyooooouuuu." The youkai hissed, its long, gooey, razor-sharp tongue darting out of its mouth. "I will not take you to Naraku," it decided, head rearing back, ready to strike one more time. "I will kill you mysssself." And then it struck.

"Keh." Inuyasha jumped high into the air. He watched his shadow fall across the single youkai eye, blotting out the sun with his body. The giant eye blinked, losing sight of the hanyou and giving him just enough time to make his move. Inuyasha's claws came down, tearing through the exposed underbelly and didn't stop until he felt the youkai's beating heart. With a squeeze and a yank, the organ was ripped from its slimy body, and he collapsed, immobile and dead.

Inuyasha cursed again, throwing the still-pumping heart onto the ground and wiping the worst of the carnage from his face. He sucked air into his lungs, breathing hard. Dammit. The fight wouldn't have sucked him of so much energy if Kagome hadn't been trapped. He'd spent a lot of time running around and dodging before he could get her free without chance of her getting injured, and he felt the after effects in his body now. Of course, there was also the fact that he still hadn't recovered all the way from his last devastating scrimmage with Naraku. He'd healed almost completely on the outside, but his body still slightly ached on the inside. Inuyasha didn't think it would last much longer, and he was feeling better day-by-day, but it was fucking annoying that his body was taking so damn long to heal in the first place.

Naraku had really fucked him over good.

Cracking his back, his ears swiveled around when he heard Kagome mumble something from up in the tree branches where he'd left her. She was trying to get down on her own. Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha shot back to the tree. "Oi," he said, head tilted back to see her half-hidden in the leaves, "stay there, I'm coming to get you." He crouched down onto his haunches and jumped straight up, landing in front of her.

She tensed when she first caught sight of him, and Inuyasha smelt the spike in fear. Keh. What the hell was she afraid of?

"Oh, for a second I thought you'd gone full youkai." She finally said, relief spreading across her features. Her hand came up to cover her pounding heart.

"It's going to take more than a low-level youkai to make me change." He sat back onto the branch, letting her scent invade his sensitive nose. He wanted something to cover up the stench of youkai guts.

"Ugh, look at you. Can you blame me for thinking you turned?" She asked, smiling and shaking her head in amusement. Her hand reached up and started to wipe at the blood on his face. "You're covered!"

Inuyasha grabbed onto her wrist, forcing her hand away. "What are you doing? I'm gross right now."

"Let me go, you're not gross. This _blood_ is gross," she said, shaking off his hand and returning her fingers to his cheeks. He relaxed and let her wipe the rest of his face clean. It felt good, her hands wiping diligently at his skin, and he finally let the rest of his tense muscles unwind. He closed his eyes, focusing on her scent and her persistent wiping, on the calm breeze that rustled through the leaves and the warmth from the sun filtering through the branches. Her hands reached up to start picking at the pieces of gore from his hair, and he cracked one eye open to catch the expression on her face. Her nose was wrinkled and her brows were scrunched together in disgust as she studied a particular piece of gray, sticky substance.

"What do you think? Brain maybe?" Inuyasha chuckled, not able to help himself. She shivered at his suggestion and tossed the unidentified mass over her shoulder.

"I don't want to know." She said, sighing heavily and reaching up to work on wiping at his ear. "Stay still!" She chided softly when they twitched under her soft caress. Inuyasha had to bite back a moan of contentment.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "You don't have to do this, you know."

She shrugged. "I don't want you covered in blood and… stuff. There is a lot on you though, we should probably find some place to get you cleaned up." She frowned then, her hand moving from his ears down to the lapel of his fire rat coat, her eyes following after. "Take this off, at least." She said, pushing at the coat.

Taking her lead, Inuyasha snorted in agreement and shed the outer haori, revealing the much more clean one underneath. She darted her gaze up to his eyes, then quickly back down to her hand still on his chest, her mouth open and hesitating, fingers fisting in his clothes.

"Keh. What?" He asked.

"You scared me," she admitted, eyes downcast. He noticed then that her fingers were shaking. Frowning, he reached up to steady her hand, tugging lightly. Her eyes darted back up to his, her bottom lip quivering. "I'm sorry, I know you're strong. If we were in your time hunting for shards I wouldn't be so worried, I don't know why it's different now."

Inuyasha sat silently, listening to what she was trying to say. Of course things were different now. They had both lost so much. He knew from the last few nights listening to her nightmares that she was terrified of being left all alone. He kept track of the number of times she cried out for the slayer and the monk. The number of times she cried out for the kitsune. He felt sick to his stomach, not just because he lost his whole pack, save Kagome, but because no matter what he did, he could not fix the intense pain that had taken hold of her.

He fought every day to push back and ignore the intense pain that had taken hold of him too.

The only thing he could do was be strong for her. Not show her any pain. Not show her any fear. He would protect her and he would be her strength.

"Keh," he said, "it doesn't matter what's changed, a low-level youkai is still nothing. I'd have killed it in one go if the bastard hadn't got ahold of you." He squeezed at her hand, willing her to understand what he was trying to say.

Her lip quivered again, and she took a deep breath, seeming to steady herself before her jaw set in determination. "You're right, I'll stop being ridiculous."

Inuyasha opened his mouth to tell her she wasn't being ridiculous, but she wouldn't give him the chance.

"You have to be getting sick of being attacked like this so often though," she continued, pulling her hand back and pushing it through her hair. She ran her fingers through to the ends where she fiddled with them between her fingertips. "We have to figure something else out here."

"We're pretty damn noticeable." Inuyasha agreed. Kagome was right, they wouldn't be getting very far at the rate they were going. She said Naraku had put a bounty on their heads, which meant every youkai, and possibly every human, was out to capture them and turn them in. "If only there were some way to disguise ourselves. Our image and our scent."

Kagome's back stiffened and Inuyasha immediately stiffened himself, so attuned to her he was. "What?" He asked again, worried she was hurt somehow.

"You think disguising ourselves would work?" She asked, her eyes moving up to lock on his.

He raised an eyebrow, curious. "You have an idea?"

She worried at her bottom lip as she hesitated, then nodded. "There are ways for us to disguise ourselves."

"Like rolling in mud?"

The ends of her mouth quirked up into an amused smile. "In this era, Inuyasha, rolling in mud would make us stand out _more_. No, there are ways to make ourselves look different."

"I'm not wearing shoes." He snapped, knowing full well where she was going.

She rolled her eyes at him, which inadvertently made his heart skip a beat. She hadn't done something so naturally Kagome since this whole thing had started. He refrained himself from breathing a sigh of relief.

"Fine, no shoes, but we're going to have to hit up a mall or something to get everything else." She said, smiling.

Thank the Gods she was smiling. He was starting to worry that he'd never see her smile again. "What's a mall?" He asked, trying his damned hardest not to smile back.

"Mmm, it's a giant building with lots and lots of different stores, and you can get everything you need all in one place."

He watched her closely as she explained it to him, wondering if it was a good idea to go to this 'mall', or if they'd just be wasting time. Right now, all they'd been doing was wandering aimlessly about. They didn't know where Naraku was hiding, and with everything out there trying to bring them in, they couldn't catch a fucking break.

"Okay," he said finally, liking the way Kagome's face became a bit more animated as she went on to tell him about she and her friends meeting at the mall after school. He reached out and wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her gently to him. "Hold on," he said, his right arm tucking her into his side. He felt her breathe in deeply, her nose at the base of his throat as he swung off the branch and fell through the branches landing lightly on his feet. She had tensed up at the jump and was slow to let him go, a light blush spreading across her cheeks.

She moved to grab her pack, which had been discarded when the snake youkai first attacked, and slung it over her shoulders. She stood and turned to look at him, sadness falling across her features again. Inuyasha hated that sadness even though he understood it, even though he felt it deep down himself. He wanted Kagome to smile again, to laugh in that carefree way that she used to. The need for little Shippou to make a face or Miroku and Sango to fight was so intense at that moment he growled, turning from her.

Sighing at his lack of control, he stuck his hand out behind him, hoping she'd understand that his growl wasn't meant for her. His fingers hung in the air for a few seconds before he felt her dainty hand brush his, her fingers entwining with his own. She wrapped her other hand around his arm and leaned into his side, smiling up at him to show him she did understand.

"Take me shopping, Inuyasha?" She asked, that same pretty blush staining her cheeks.

"Keh." He replied.

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Please remember to review, I'm serious about my writing and my stories, and if you have anything to comment about or anything to mention or anything to say, I would love to hear it.

~SugarRos


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